Linked Community News March 2022

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Network Updates

NEW PODCAST AND BLOG: Overcoming Immunisation Workforce Challenges Due to COVID-19
Linked Network Facilitators sat down with three health workforce experts to discuss the ongoing workforce challenges faced by immunisation programmes resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, and how countries across the world have tried to address these challenges. Hear from Luis Bernal, former Director of Human Resources for Health, Ministry of Health and Social Protection, Colombia, Juana Paola Bustamante Izquierdo, Economist, Health Labour Market Unit, World Health Organization, and Rachel Deussom, Director, Global Health Practice, Chemonics and former Technical Director, HRH2030, Chemonics. Among many insights from this fascinating conversation, Luis shares his perspectives from the Latin America region on strategies to decrease health worker burnout, Juana discusses the importance of investing in skills-building and training, and Rachel tackles innovative systems for supporting mental health in our new podcast. To accompany the podcast, we compiled highlights and takeaways in a blog from our conversation with the experts, along with related resources for additional learning.

Linked Theory of Change to Ensure Impact Against Network Objectives
By working with and through country and regional partners, the Linked Immunisation Action Network ensures uptake of the knowledge, approaches, and promising practices gained through collaborative peer-to-peer learning engagements into transformational change in country immunisation programmes. Linked developed a theory of change to ensure a clear results and measurement framework to monitor both implementation and impact against these objectives of translating knowledge into practice. Learn about the network’s planned activities, along with the outcomes and eventual impact we expect to see, by checking out the theory of change, now available on the Linked website.

Featured News & Resources

Community-led Strategies to Aid Vaccine Acceptance: Five Case Studies from Africa and South Asia
Multidisciplinary teams from five countries were awarded funding to explore the social drivers of COVID-19 misinformation and its impact on both routine immunisation acceptance and the acceptance of a COVID-19 vaccine. Their work resulted in five case studies from India, Kenya, Pakistan, and Sierra Leone.

Maintaining Polio-Free Status in Indonesia During the COVID-19 Pandemic
This article describes the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the polio eradication efforts in Indonesia and the strategies to maintain the country’s polio-free status.

Introducing the Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) in Somalia, Guinea, South Sudan, and Chad
This report offers 10 actions to accelerate introduction of PCV in Chad, Guinea, Somalia, and South Sudan in 2022 and achieve 90% coverage by 2025.

Updated Guidance on National Immunisation Strategies (NIS)
The World Health Organization has released updated guidance to support countries in the development of National Immunisation Strategies (NIS). The new guidance focuses on more informed, country owned, and sustainable decision-making and the prioritization of interventions needed to reach zero dose children and communities. Check out the recording of the webinar that introduces this new approach and the available guidance.

Inequality Monitoring in Sexual, Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health
This manual serves as a practical introductory guide to promote equity by strengthening and building capacity for quantitative inequality monitoring in SRMNCAH.

Identifying the Poor Through Data Linkage and Inter-agency Coordination: A Health Practitioner’s Handbook and Toolbox
This handbook aims to help health leaders understand where their health systems could improve their population targeting approach, providing system diagnostics to understand your own level of progress against a range of dimensions, and linking each area where progress may be needed to a specific tool in the Implementation Toolbox.

External Events

In Case You Missed It: Overcoming Gender-Related Barriers to Immunisation Services
Earlier this month, the CSIS Global Health Policy Center led a webinar to discuss approaches effective in overcoming gender-related barriers to vaccine access and uptake. Learn lessons to address gender-related barriers to service utilization.

Country Spotlights

Pakistan Has a Big Idea: Send 13,000 Teams Led by Women to Vaccinate the Hesitant
13,000 teams led by women were dispatched across the southern province of Sindh to vaccinate a cohort they have struggled to reach with the COVID-19 vaccine. Learn how their door-to-door campaigns are convincing the hesitant to get their dose.

Reaching Remote Communities Through Community Dialogues
Ismaila Ibrahim Edego, an immunisation expert who specializes in vaccine campaigns that reach underserved communities across Kaduna State, Nigeria, joins the Boost Sparks series to discuss his experiences conducting community sensitization sessions to improve service delivery, vaccine acceptance, and trust between remote communities and the local government.