Polio
Polio eradication action with informed and engaged societies
Polio
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Meeting Report: Inter-Agency Task Force on Communication for Immunization and Polio Eradication

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Summary

This document summarises the discussions held at a meeting designed to further efforts initiated in Dakar in 2008 to support countries in planning and implementing data-driven polio communication interventions and to determine progress in implementation of the 2008 Task Force on Immunization in Africa (TFI) recommendations related to communication. The meeting, which included Ministry of Health (MoH), World Health Organization (WHO), and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) communication teams from 11 countries in West and Central Africa, took place in a context of heightened risk of continued spread of wild polio virus (WPV) transmission in the West and Central Africa region. A key emphasis of this meeting was to strengthen the capacity of country teams in planning, implementing, and evaluating communication activities for polio and Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) through introduction of a conceptual model that systematically follows a sequence of stages and steps in the planning cycle.

An excerpt from the document follows:
"The take-home message for participating country teams is the need for evidence-based and measurable communication interventions to demonstrate results, combined with methodic situational analyses, identification of challenges, and carefully determined formative research to set baselines where data gaps exist. Discussions also emphasized the fact that badly needed resources for communication activities for immunization/polio may be easier to obtain if plans are based on sound analysis and are results-orientated.

The Way Forward:
At the end of the meeting, countries outlined three priority actions that they will take upon return to their countries. The key actions, summarized and grouped, are as follows:

  • Most countries committed to either develop, update, refine or finalize their communication workplans (at national and district level) for polio/EPI, including Benin, Burkina, Guinea, Chad, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, DR [Democratic Republic of] Congo, Ghana, Niger and Togo.
  • Countries that felt the need to place more emphasis in developing communication guidelines and materials to ensure effective reach to target populations, as well enhance the capacity of service providers included Benin, Ghana, Niger and Mali.
  • For Burkina, Côte d'Ivoire and Mali, an immediate concern is also to increase advocacy activities to ensure more involvement and support of the leadership, organized groups and communities themselves, and to identify potential new partners (Chad), ensuring that all these activities are harmonized and coordinated.
  • For Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire a priority is to increase resource mobilization efforts, including targeted approach to the private sector.
  • Congo, DR Congo, Ghana and Nigeria felt that one of their key priorities is to identify critical gaps in data and further conduct research and studies to enhance the evidence base for communication interventions and make better use of data that already exists; they also propose to revise their data collection tools for effective data collection and analysis. Nigeria's priority is also to look for additional technical support from UNICEF and partners.


As a result of discussions throughout the four days of the meeting, feedback and exchanges among country teams and facilitators, and their expressed priorities, some key recommendations are proposed to ensure that the tasks already initiated by country teams are followed up and that effective interventions are implemented, monitored and their impact is measured...

  1. Country teams to meet with communication and technical partners at country level and discuss the methodological framework for use of data and analysis in development of strategic communication plans for polio/EPI, review/update current communication action plans.
  2. As necessary element in the strategic planning process, country teams are urged to implement, as a minimum, the standard polio/EPI communication indicators developed in Dakar in 2008 for standardized trend analysis and consistency in reporting on progress (for instance to TFI). As determined by each country programme context, countries will build on the standard indicators for EPI/polo to develop other complementary country-specific indicators to best respond to specific monitoring and outcome measurement needs.
  3. Country teams to review existing epidemiological socio-demographic data at country level that can be used to support communication analysis and planning; identify gaps in available social data and plan for research needed to generate the necessary data for more solid, evidence-based analysis. This will necessitate devising adequate new research mechanisms and tools as may be needed, and incorporate innovations based on research into the communication programmes.
  4. The M&E framework to be fully integrated into the planning process of communication for polio/EPI. Country teams to systematically evaluate their communication programmes for polio/EPI, in all their components and phases, and adjust interventions accordingly.
  5. Country teams to proactively engage with the existing EPI/Polio coordination structures (ICC at national and sub-national levels, etc.) to ensure that communication committees are fully operational and that there is continuous exchange with technical committees.
  6. Neighboring country teams to work more closely and improve coordination of synchronized campaigns along their shared borders, making every effort to harmonize dates, messages and vaccination practices (e.g. finger-marking).
  7. Country teams to map existing potential partnerships for communication activities; engage in new and innovative partnerships for polio/EPI, including public/private partnerships.
  8. Country teams to map the technical support needed to strengthen communication capacities at country level; identify high-priority areas of support; and communication requirements for effective implementation of planned activities, in terms of financial and human resources."


Click here to access the full report in MS Word format.