Dear HIFA and CHIFA colleagues,
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative has published a new Strategy in collaboration with WHO and other partners.
GPEI Strategy 2022-2026
https://polioeradication.org/gpei-strategy-2022-2026/
Below are extracts and a comment from me.
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Strategic objectives
Create urgency and accountability to generate greater political will by re-envisioning the GPEI’s relationship with governments and systematizing political advocacy.
Generate vaccine acceptance through context-adapted community engagement that reduces refusals and increases community commitment to child immunization.
Expedite progress through expanded integration efforts with a broader range of partners in immunization, essential health care and community services.
Improve frontline success through changes to campaign operations and outbreak response operations, including the recognition and empowerment of the frontline workforce.
Enhance detection and response through sensitive surveillance that provides the programme with critical information for action.
Key areas of evolution [Vaccine acceptance]
To generate vaccine acceptance, the programme must first identify at a granular level the dynamics driving hesitancy and resolve them through sustained communication, engagement and alliance-building. The country programmes will:
- expand the use of social data, behavioural science, behavioural interventions and social media analytics to inform communication strategies “on” and “offline” and develop new digitally integrated and context-adapted approaches, thereby contributing to a more enabling environment;
- invest in strengthening the communication competencies of frontline workers and supervisors, with an emphasis on enhanced interpersonal skills, coaching, motivation and supportive supervision that are focused on establishing credibility and rapport at the “doorstep”. Frontline worker training will be responsive to local needs and informed by social data to address specific community issues and challenges;
- work with influencers in Pashto-speaking communities, including traditional birth attendants and women’s groups, to create a multidisciplinary, Pashto-centred approach that aims to understand the health-seeking behaviours of pregnant women in underserved communities and offers polio vaccination as supportive of their broader childcare practices. Methods that will be pursued include participatory knowledge-building and programme design that aggregate gender-sensitive ethnographic, demographic and health system information;
- institute a paradigm shift towards priority community engagement through the creation of Community Immunization Committees, where community members can interface directly with the programme, contribute to campaign planning and relay broader health needs that can be explored for integrated service packages. Targeted interventions beyond immunization and health will be pursued for areas with persistently high levels of mistrust. To ensure ownership and co-implementation of any initiatives, analyses will be carried out in close coordination with frontline teams and Community Immunization Committees. Where possible, Community Immunization Committees will be developed in coordination with existing mechanisms, such as health shuras and rural development committees; and
- capitalize on private-sector technical assets by working with entities that are committed to social impact and have demonstrated expertise with Pashto-speaking communities. These entities, which include academic and social institutions, think tanks, the corporate sector, family-owned businesses, start-ups and local non-profit organizations, can provide fresh perspectives and alternative diagnoses of barriers to vaccine acceptance.
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COMMENT (NPW): Vaccine acceptance is particularly relevant to HIFA. It is clear that misconceptions about polio vaccine are not only leading to vaccine refusal, but also to the tragic murders of polio workers. In addition to the above, I would advocate for all governments, and especially those with endemic polio, to commit publicly to ensure that their citizens have access to reliable information on polio and polio vaccine, in a format that is readily acceptable and understandable to all.
Join HIFA: www.hifa.org/joinhifa
Join CHIFA (child health and rights): http://www.hifa.org/joinchifa
Best wishes, Neil
Neil Pakenham-Walsh, Global Coordinator HIFA, www.hifa.org neil@hifa.org
Global Healthcare Information Network: Working in official relations with WHO
