Communication for Polio Eradication and Routine Immunization: Checklists and Easy Reference Guides

This resource features 19 checklists and guides that cover communication and mobilisation aspects of routine immunisation and disease surveillance, in addition to supplementary immunisation for polio eradication. It was created by the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Basic Support for Institutionalizing Child Survival (BASICS), the CHANGE project, and other partners in the polio eradication effort, who had received numerous requests, both from the field as well as from technical staff and consultants working with international organisations, for quick-reference communication/social mobilisation guides.

The checklists are meant to be adaptable/adapted to specific country contexts. They can be used independently or in combination - they have been laid out in such a way as to make them easy to photocopy and disseminate as stand-alone resource documents - and/or can be incorporated into other materials (e.g., national and subnational guidelines), depending on programme needs. Most entries are 1-3 pages in length and are grouped into the following 3 sections:

I. Planning and strategies: The first section begins with a general checklist for effective communication planning for immunisation (No. 1) and a second, brief checklist that focuses on partners and other resources (No. 2). Checklist No. 3 includes the terms of reference for communication committees. Checklists Nos. 4 and 5 address behaviour change communication (BCC) objectives: No. 4 reviews basic behaviours for various intended audiences and a sample behaviour change strategy, and No. 5 presents a behavioural analysis of barriers to complete and timely routine vaccination and possible ways of overcoming them. Checklist No. 6 provides some general principles for immunisation advocacy. Checklists Nos. 7 to 10 discuss strategies for dealing with special situations or audiences: house-to-house immunisation (No. 7), tactics for special groups (No. 8), border and conflict situations (No. 9), and dealing with rumours (No. 10). The final checklist in this section (No. 11) offers some lessons learned for introducing new vaccines and technologies.

II. Messages and media: This section begins with tips on the topic of how health workers communicate with mothers (No. 12). Checklist No. 13 lists key immunisation messages for caregivers, and No. 14 outlines key messages for various audiences specifically regarding polio eradication. Checklist No. 15 focuses on message content regarding surveillance for acute flaccid paralysis (AFP)/polio. Checklist No. 16 describes the range of media and materials and their (more and less) appropriate uses.

III. Monitoring and supervision: the final section provides tips on how to monitor communication activities and strategies (No. 17) and then on what to monitor during national immunisation days, or NIDs (No. 18). The final checklist (No. 19) proposes a series of global communication indicators for immunisation-related objectives.

These checklists are intended to be used by national staff in the field, but they also can be used by others to provide technical assistance and/or supervision for polio activities, including: communication/social mobilization planners and managers at national, provincial and district levels; district or subdistrict supervisors; vaccination teams, vaccinators, mobilisers, and communication specialists/focal persons; and/or international consultants and staff.