Observance of 3rd Edition of AVW in Liberia
The observance of the African Vaccination Week in Liberia was primarily a mass media campaign.
The strategies used were as follows:
Political advocacy through holding of national-level and county-level advocacy meetings attended by policy makers, partner organizations, opinion leaders, etc in order to have them demonstrate public support for routine immunization and polio eradication.
Mass media promotion targeting parents, caregivers and civil society organizations including the media having them to understand the objectives of the AVW and the polio eradication initiative and have them educate the public.
Community engagement by having civil society and community leaders actively participating in social mobilization routine immunization and polio campaign by holding district-level sensitization meetings, conducting inter-personal communication activities using district leaders, community volunteers and town criers .
Household engagement aimed at having caregivers take children for routine immunization and demonstrate their support for polio campaign.
A formal launch of African Vaccination Week took place on April 22nd, 2013. The event included key messages about the Liberian routine immunization and the upcoming polio campaign. The chief launcher was Hon. Hans Barchue, the Deputy Speaker of the Liberian House of Representatives and co-launcher was Hon. Jewel Howard-Taylor, Senior Senator from Bong County, Liberia.
Others attending and making remarks during the launch included Dr. Bernice T. Dahn, Chief Medical Officer of Liberia and Deputy Minister for Health Services, Ministry of Health and Social Welfare; and Dr. Nestor Ndayimirije, the WHO Representative to Liberia. The launchers and other key stakeholders administered doses of polio vaccine to local children during the event.
Radio talk shows and radio messages promoting routine immunization were aired during the African Vaccination Week. The launching of routine immunization messages developed with support of UNICEF was done with the unveiling in of murals with routine immunization messages in three poorly performing/hard-to-reach counties (Grand Kru, River Gee, and Maryland).
The counties are implementing the social mobilization activities as planned; commencing with county-level advocacy meetings on April 4th. On April 19th, seven national social mobilization supervisors were sent from Monrovia to priority counties to help monitor the implementation of the communications plan.