Fighting myths and disinformation about vaccination in Ukraine.
UNICEF has been on the forefront of engaging with parents, health professionals and communities to increase their loyalty towards immunisation
Challenges
Ukraine has been leading the list of countries affected by the still ongoing measles outbreak, while had one of the lowest vaccination rates for routine immunisation in Europe and globally during 2016-17 and was responding to polio outbreak in 2015-16. Children are still under the risk of infectious diseases in Ukraine, as cases of tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis have been reported from various localities of the country.
Meanwhile parents are turning back to vaccination practice – a positive trend for compliance with vaccination schedule is being observed during last five years. According to the recent national household survey, some 88% of parents stated they are vaccinating children according to the national schedule, while there were 84% in 2017, and 63% in 2014.
Solutions
During these years, UNICEF has been on the forefront of engaging with parents, health professionals and communities to increase their loyalty towards immunisation and applying behavioural science and innovative solutions.
Based on the social data about caregivers’ insights, and with support from USAID, targeted and tailored interventions were applied to address risk perception of infectious diseases among fathers, build knowledge among children, position vaccination among service takers.
Fathers:
Survey findings proved that fathers are less informed about danger of infectious diseases and benefits of vaccination and are not afraid of infectious diseases. We have addressed them with series of creative communication products targeting via digital media activation. Among them, an emotional video with fathers telling others about their feelings about children:
In partnership with Cannes Lions Ukraine, teams of young creators developed series of images addressing fathers (http://bit.ly/UAvaccination). This activation has reached over 1.3 caregivers, mainly fathers and received high engagement from the audience.
Children:
Edutainment intervention developed in Ukraine included online and off-line activities and innovative products. Based on Lili who made friends with viruses, a children’s book with augmented reality, a World Largest Lesson was developed for primary school children that engaged teachers through online tutorial and over 3,000 children took part in the lesson in majority regions of Ukraine in one month.
In addition, the book was distributed at the edutainment events across the country, where over 100,000 children took part in learning sessions on vaccination through play:
Caregivers
Based on the UNICEF brief to address negative perception of vaccination services and support loyalty towards the service among its beneficiaries, teams of young creators have developed first ever branding for vaccination services in Ukraine. The branding is to be rolled-out in 2019- 2020 upon its approval with the Ministry of Health.
