Effective vaccine management through social behavior change communication: Exploring solutions using a participatory action research approach in the Solomon Islands.

Effective vaccine management through social behavior change communication: Exploring solutions using a participatory action research approach in the Solomon Islands. Vaccine. 2020 Sep 14;: Authors: Dadari I, Ssenyonjo J, Anga J Abstract Addressing vaccine management bottlenecks, including high vaccine wastage rates, has traditionally been addressed through health worker training and other didactic methods of technical assistance or support as required. It has been shown, though, that the high level of technical skills, expertise, and responsibility required in vaccine handling and management cannot be achieved by mere didactic learning. While gains have been made in vaccine management and handling with these approaches, there remain challenges of high vaccine wastage rates and poor vaccine management practices across the board. Interestingly, approaching vaccine management through social behavior change has not been documented. Through Participatory Action Research (PAR), which is increasingly being used in health sciences, we explore an attempt at strengthening vaccine management and thus reducing high vaccine wastage rates by working together with health workers to identify plausible, realistic solutions to vaccine management through social behavior change. Select health workers directly involved with the immunization program in the four major provinces of the Solomon Islands were identified purposively to use action media and come...
Source: Vaccine - Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Tags: Vaccine Source Type: research