On the verge of RSV disease prevention: A communications toolkit

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major, under–recognized public health problem causing more severe respiratory infections and hospitalizations in infants and young children each year than any other pathogen. New immunization tools, including a RSV maternal vaccine and long-acting monoclonal antibody given at or soon after birth, are now licensed that could help change that.

The opportunity to address this pervasive virus has never been better and now is the time to raise awareness and support global, regional, and country decision-making around RSV prevention, policy, and implementation preparedness. As such, the World Health Organization, PATH, and other expert contributors have developed a toolkit of communication materials that public health stakeholders and advocates can use to share information about RSV disease, new prevention tools, and delivery considerations. 

To accommodate varying audience and engagement needs, this toolkit includes a stand-alone RSV primer presentation (and fact sheet) providing an overview of RSV disease and prevention options. Also available are modular PowerPoint slides that can be mixed and matched with the primer presentation to dive deeper into key topics for informing understanding and decision-making around RSV prevention.

Module topics include:

• Clinical disease
• Disease burden
• RSV immunization approaches for protecting infants
• New RSV immunization products
• Health economics
• Policy
• Delivery / implementation
• Surveillance
• RSV prevention in older adults

USE THESE MATERIALS AT YOUR NEXT MEETING! All slides are open access, free to use, and come with speaker notes. Open via the website in read-only format or submit a request for the editable files.