Health Promotion Officers Lead Polio Vaccine Campaign for Rwandan Children.
Accurate Health Messaging Supports Comprehensive Immunization For Every Child in Rwanda.
Journeying along the winding riverlike roads of Kicukiro District, one of the districts making up Rwanda’s capital city, the landscape reveals beautiful, pristine terrains of hills and steep valleys. These terrains lead to remote villages, far from health facilities like the Gikondo Health Center. Villages such as Kagugu, and Kigarama-Bwerankoli-Nyenyeli witnessed hesitancy among Rwandans during the first round of polio vaccination in July 2023. The reluctance stemmed from limited information about the oral polio vaccine and misconceptions perpetuated by religious influencers during the nationwide campaign.
Recognizing this challenge, District Health Officer Emerance Ufitinema initiated a five-day awareness campaign, hoping to address the hesitancy prevalent among residents of the Gikondo sector in Kicukiro District regarding polio vaccination. She employed interpersonal communication skills and an unconventional, community-centered approach to deliver accurate educative messages about novel oral poliomyelitis vaccine type 2. She shared, "I wanted our residents to have the right information to make informed decisions about their children's health."
Residents of Gikondo Sector responded positively to the campaign. Shamim Uwitonze, a resident with young twins reflected on her and her peers’ participation in the sessions saying, "I saw that health-seeking behavior is motivated by different things, from personal experiences to a sense of communal purpose."
In Gikondo, residents value interpersonal communication channels, favoring small group settings where accurate awareness messages are relayed through one-on-one interactions. Shamim Uwitonze, after one such awareness session, emphasized the importance of heart-to-heart communication before consenting to vaccinate her children. She reflected, “The personal touch in these discussions influences our decision-making regarding our children's health."
What I feel after these awareness sessions is that you must let your heart speak to other hearts. The empathetic and personal approach helped us accept to vaccinate our children because it helps us better understand the benefits of vaccines; having such reliable information is crucial for parents to make informed decisions
Emerance Gatera Ufitinema, the Kicukiro health promotion officer, emphasized the need for behaviour change among Rwandan parents. She urged for a shift towards a mindset focused on health-seeking and disease prevention rather than solely relying on treatment after uninformed health decisions. Ufitinema’s drive for better health decisions stems from her love for children. "I advocate for the sustainable development of health for children through awareness measures because they are the seeds of our future," she said with a smile on her face.
Fulgence Kamali, a health promotion specialist at Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC), confirms that efforts are underway to promote routine vaccination in Rwanda through outreach initiatives at health facilities such as district hospitals, health centers, health posts, and other fixed sites in hard-to-reach areas. These initiatives aim to ensure every Rwandan child receives the novel oral poliomyelitis vaccine type 2 from 0-7 years of age, thereby preventing death from preventable diseases.
The collaborative efforts of the Ministry of Health (MOH), RBC, Rwanda Health Communication Center (RHCC), UNICEF, and the World Health Organization (WHO) within the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) are dedicated to halting the circulation of Vaccine-derived Poliovirus type 2.
Amidst the emphasis on preventive health promotion, UNICEF expresses gratitude for the contributions of WHO, Rwanda’s MOH, RBC, community health workers, and all other health personnel involved in the oral poliomyelitis vaccine type 2 campaign.
