Prime Business AfricaDespite the increasing awareness on the importance of vaccination, there are still pockets of resistance due to some misconceptions by Africans, studies revealed.
To address that, Niyel, an advocacy and public affairs organisation, launched a multimedia campaign during the African Vaccination Week in April this year, to reach the entire continent and ensure full participation of all the people for sustainable prevention of the outbreak of various diseases.
Founder and Executive Director of Niyel, Valérie Traoré, in this interview with Prime Business Africa’s VICTOR EZEJA, speaks on the group’s vaccination campaign activities so far.
A good number of people in some parts of Africa are still averse to vaccination due to negative perceptions they have about it, how has your campaign been addressing that?
Some people are still averse to vaccination, but the majority is not. When you look at the progress that has been made toward eradicating polio or measles, you know it is because people are vaccinating their children en masse and trusting that vaccines work.
However, it is true that some people still have doubts and concerns. This is why our campaign is focused on driving conversations. We have to understand what people’s reservations are and have conversations where no one’s concern is dismissed. The Hello Doc show with Frank Donga in English and Philomaine Nanema in French is just that. It airs on some radio and television stations and available on YouTube and podcasts platforms. It provides a space where all questions and comments are welcome. By placing a credible health care professional in front of a humorist, we managed to demystify vaccination and make it something easy to talk about while removing the emotional reaction that some people may have to the conversation.
What are the impacts of the vaccination campaign so far, looking at feedback from online engagements?
We launched the campaign during Africa Vaccination Week in April and the results have been amazing. On all platforms,
we reached over 200 000 people and saw engagements from nearly 50, 000. These are light touches and we look forward to going deeper in the conversations throughout the year.
How many countries have you reached with the pro-vaccination campaign?
We have worked directly with 18 CSOs (Civil Society Organisations), media, and credible influential voices in five countries (Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Cameroon), and through the online campaign, we were also able to reach four other countries (DRC, Mali, Senegal, Kenya).
Apart from social media platforms, what other means do your organisation adopt to reach uneducated people especially, in rural areas who may still be holding negative perceptions about vaccines?
We are using radio as the primary form of public outreach. For example, the show is airing on national radio and television in Burkina Faso. We are also exploring similar partnerships in Nigeria and the DRC.
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What are the challenges you encounter in the course of carrying out your pro-vaccination campaigns?
I would not really refer to it as challenges. It is quite exciting to hear people, their concerns, their fears and reach them where they are. The focus as mentioned earlier is conversations. When that is your starting point, you are as much a listener and a learner, as you are a provider of content. This process allows everyone to be fully present and provides a better environment for change.
Any thoughts on what authorities need to do to allay the fears of people across Africa about vaccines?
Authorities need to be transparent while acknowledging the concerns that people may have. By communicating often and with accuracy, by developing messages that are mindful of the communities they try to address, they will go a long way in making people trust vaccination. Authorities can continue to rely on the healthcare professionals we do have as well as train more healthcare professionals.
How long have you been into advocacy campaigns generally and what are your motivations for such a humanitarian job?
I have been in advocacy for over twenty years now. I did an internship at Amnesty International when I was in college in 2000, and got my first job after university at Oxfam. In 2008, I created Niyel, to be able to help other organisations and people focus on having real tangible impact.
My motivation is simply, knowing that so much of the suffering experienced by so many people in the world, whether from violence, poverty, discrimination, lack of access to very basic social services like healthcare or education or even water and sanitation, are the result of injustices that can be addressed. I believe it is the responsibility of everyone that is saddened, angered, touched by any of this to do what they can, where they are to help. Complaining about the state of the world and not doing anything to make it better is actually contributing to making it worse and exacerbating it all. It is lazy at best and criminal at worst. We don’t all have the same skills or resources, but we all have to do our part, however small or big that something is. I don’t see my work as humanitarian, I see it as responsibility.
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