Effectiveness of a Census-Based Management Information System for Guiding Polio Eradication and Routine Immunization Activities: Evidence from the CORE Group Polio Project in Uttar Pradesh, India

A census-based management information system (CB-MIS) can bring strength and power to public health programs by providing current information about everyone in the population covered by the program. A CB-MIS can contribute to the effective planning and execution of any project or program that aims to engage with everyone in the population. Various types of CB-MISs have been used for different public health purposes, such as demographic surveillance, disease surveillance, vaccine safety assessments, epidemiological research, and clinical trials.1–6 Few studies in the peer-reviewed literature assess the contributions that a CB-MIS can make to the planning, monitoring, and evaluation of social and behavior change communication (SBCC) interventions. This article describes the effectiveness of the CORE Group Polio Project (CGPP) program to improve polio and routine immunization (RI) coverage in underserved populations, the contribution of its CB-MIS to achieving these results, the strength of the vital events registration system embodied within the CB-MIS, and the potential of this CB-MIS for contributing to the effectiveness of other public health programs in similar environments.