Breaking the Barriers: How Gender Equity Advances Immunization
Gender roles and norms can profoundly impact immunization uptake and health outcomes for women, children, families, and communities. To increase immunization coverage and reach zero-dose children, it is essential to understand and address how gender can influence access to vaccines.
In recognition of International Women’s Day on March 8, we are highlighting several IVAC projects that support the critical relationship between immunization and gender equity for women and girls. |
|
|
 |
World Tuberculosis Day 2023
World Tuberculosis Day is observed annually on March 24 to raise awareness about this devastating disease. Each year, TB infects more than 10 million people and kills approximately 1.6 million—equal to one TB death every 20 seconds. Johns Hopkins Medicine is leading SMART4TB, an international consortium that was recently awarded up to $200 million in funding by USAID to support new research to improve tuberculosis diagnostics, therapeutics, transmission control, local stewardship, and prevention around the world. IVAC Deputy Director Dr. Rupali Limaye will be leading IVAC's SMART4TB efforts to understand the determinants that would influence licensing, adoption, and scale-up of new TB vaccines in the countries most affected by the disease.
Read more about the broad benefits of TB vaccines and their impact on equity and economics in the latest feature from the Value of Immunization Compendium of Evidence (VoICE). |
|
 |
Serosurveillance Summit Hosted by IVAC Highlights Growing Interest from LMICs
Earlier this month, IVAC hosted a Serosurveillance Summit with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, bringing together 87 researchers, NGOs, and country partners representing eight countries. IVAC Executive Director Dr. William Moss, who provided opening remarks, explained, "This is a multidisciplinary endeavor and we are fortunate to have experts across many domains related to multiplexed serosurveillance, including manufacturing and supply chains, laboratory assays, epidemiology, bioinformatics and analytics, use cases, and programmatic sustainability." During the summit, participants were divided into six working groups to identify key challenges and solutions within each domain, with the ultimate goal of establishing a community of practice for integrated multi-pathogen serological surveillance. |
|
The Global Health Systems Summer Institute
When: June 5-30, 2023
The Global Health Systems Summer Institute provides early- and mid-career public health professionals with cutting-edge skills in a variety of global health topics. The Institute is also a great opportunity for part-time MPH and other Hopkins students and fellows to learn a valuable set of skills in an in-demand and rapidly growing field of public health.
Courses are taught by leading faculty from the Bloomberg School of Public Health who have extensive experience working with ministries of health, international agencies, and local governments in countries across the world.
By the end of the program, you will learn how to measure the burden of disease, monitor and evaluate health programs, and use systems science approaches in health systems. Both in-person and online courses are available. |
|
|
Challenges Addressing Inequalities in Measles Vaccine Coverage in Zambia through a Measles-Rubella Supplementary Immunization Activity during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors include Yangyupei Yang, Andrea C. Carcelen, Christine Prosperi, Amy K. Winter, William J. Moss, and Simon Mutembo
Measles-rubella supplementary immunization activities (MR-SIAs) are conducted to address inequalities in coverage and fill population immunity gaps when routine immunization services fail to reach all children with two doses of a measles-containing vaccine (MCV). A recent study published in Vaccines measured the proportion of measles zero-dose and under-immunized children who were reached by the 2020 MR-SIA and identified reasons associated with persistent inequalities following the MR-SIA. Findings revealed that the MR-SIA reached more under-immunized children with MCV2 than measles zero-dose children with MCV1. One possible solution to address the inequalities in vaccination is to transition from nationwide non-selective SIAs to more targeted and selective strategies. |
|
|
Vaccine Communication: Appeals and Messengers Most Effective for COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake in Ukraine
By Gretchen Schulz, Kristian Balgobin, Alexandra Michel, and Rupali J. Limaye
COVID-19 vaccine communication has been a challenge, partly because some populations are highly distrustful of information from public health or government institutions. In new research published in Vaccines, 168 Ukrainian participants were asked to review six COVID-19 vaccination ads. Findings from this study suggest that vaccine appeals focused on health outcomes delivered by healthcare providers are preferred by most individuals in Ukraine. However, individuals are motivated by a myriad of factors, suggesting that for vaccine messaging to be most effective, communication should be varied in both appeal and messenger. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
