Publish Date: December 2018
Author: MCSP
In low- and middle-income countries, unsatisfactory vaccination coverage often reflects services that are not sufficiently accessible, convenient, reliable, or friendly. It may also reflect a lack of public understanding or trust in vaccination and/or vaccination services. Additionally, in developing countries, various sociocultural factors affect the likelihood that families make the effort to get their children immunized.
Engaging with communities is a strategy that can improve both immunization services and their appropriate use. Community members can assist in planning services, supporting logistics (helping move vaccines and people), supporting vaccination sessions (mobilizing families for outreach, organizing crowds, recording information, providing practical information to caregivers), explaining vaccination and motivating fellow community members, providing feedback on services that flags issues that need to be addressed, and monitoring and evaluating services.
This paper describes six country experiences, facilitated by the USAID Maternal and Child Health Integrated Program (MCHIP) from 2009 to 2014, and MCSP from 2014 to 2019. In each country, one or a few community members monitor every young child’s individual vaccinations, promote vaccination, and refer caregivers to have their children vaccinated.
The resource is also available in French.
Community Monitoring of Individual Children’s Vaccinations: Six Country Experiences (1417 downloads )
