Pharmacists and COVID-19 Vaccination – Considering Mobile Phone Caller Tunes as a Novel Approach to Promote Vaccine Uptake in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

As several low- and middle-income countries roll out their COVID-19 vaccination programmes, COVID-19 vaccines hesitancy could threaten the success of such programmes. But pharmacists can play a leading role in addressing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy by using a critical mobile phone-based technology. This technology, known as caller tunes or ringback tones, is flourishing in low- and middle-income countries such as those in Africa and Asia where it is used to promote popular songs and religious messages. With this technology, callers to mobile phones hear a message or a song instead of the typical ringing sound. There is a need for pharmacists associations to collaborate with the creative arts industry and telecommunication companies to have caller tunes on COVID-19 vaccines. As pharmacists and others download COVID-19 vaccine caller tunes onto their mobile phones, their callers will hear COVID-19 vaccines messages or songs. This could help combat disinformation and hesitancy, and promote widespread vaccination as availability increases.

Source: Pharmacists and COVID-19 Vaccination – Considering Mobile Phone Caller Tunes as a Novel Approach to Promote Vaccine Uptake in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

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    USAID’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Burkina Faso – Issue 3 / USAID dans la riposte face à la COVID-19 au Burkina Faso

    This is the third issue of the USAID’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Burkina Faso newsletter (October 2020). The newsletter contains information on how USAID and its implementing partners are helping to strengthen Burkina Faso’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This assistance is provided through many activities that support the different thematic committees established:

    • Diagnosis/laboratory
    • Infection prevention and control
    • Surveillance
    • Coordination
    • Risk communication and community engagement
    • Case management
    • Logistics

    Source: USAID’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Burkina Faso – Issue 3 / USAID dans la riposte face à la COVID-19 au Burkina Faso

      Views 734

      USAID’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Burkina Faso – Issue 2 / USAID dans la riposte face à la COVID-19 au Burkina Faso

      This is the second issue of the USAID’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Burkina Faso newsletter (October 2020). The newsletter contains information on how USAID and its implementing partners are helping to strengthen Burkina Faso’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

      This assistance is provided through many activities that support the different thematic committees established:

      • Diagnosis/laboratory
      • Infection prevention and control
      • Surveillance
      • Coordination
      • Risk communication and community engagement
      • Case management
      • Logistics

      Source: USAID’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Burkina Faso – Issue 2 / USAID dans la riposte face à la COVID-19 au Burkina Faso

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        Mali COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions series

        This FAQ series, available in French, was developed by Breakthrough ACTION Mali in collaboration with the National Communication Sub-Commission of the COVID-19 Crisis Committee. The series was distributed across a range of partners as part of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign in 2021. Content was developed in collaboration with all partners and adapts key information and messages of the World Health Organization’s COVID Vaccine FAQs and detailed SAGE recommendations to the context of Mali’s vaccine campaign, its vaccine eligible populations and available vaccine types.

        The series includes:

        1. COVID-19 vaccine FAQ for Health workers
        2. FAQ for the general public
        3. AstraZeneca vaccine FAQ
        4. Johnson & Johnson/Janssen vaccine FAQ

        Source: Mali COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions series

          Views 922

          Research brief: Barriers to COVID-19 prevention behaviors in Côte d’Ivoire

          This research brief, available in both English and French, summarizes the results of a qualitative study examining barriers to a range of COVID-19 prevention behaviors early on in the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2020.

          The study included individual interviews (IDIs) with COVID-19 survivors, individuals who lost a family member to the disease, and health workers. Focus group discussions (FGDs) were also conducted with members of the general population to explore social norms and community perceptions related to COVID-19.

          Source: Research brief: Barriers to COVID-19 prevention behaviors in Côte d’Ivoire

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            Entertainment-Education Campaigns and COVID-19: How Three Global Organizations Adapted the Health Communication Strategy for Pandemic Response and Takeaways for the Future

            COVID-19 created a substantial set of challenges for health communication practitioners in the process of planning, implementing, and evaluating entertainment-education (EE) campaigns. EE is a theory and evidence-based communication strategy that employs entertainment media for educational messaging. Here, we briefly review EE campaigns in response to previous health emergencies and present three cases of EE responses to the COVID-19 pandemic from leading global organizations.

            Source: Entertainment-Education Campaigns and COVID-19: How Three Global Organizations Adapted the Health Communication Strategy for Pandemic Response and Takeaways for the Future

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              Misinformation Alerts

              These insights are based on a combination of automated media monitoring and manual review by public health data analysts. Media data are publicly available data from many sources, such as social media, broadcast television, newspapers and magazines, news websites, online video, blogs, and more. Analysts from the Public Good Projects triangulate this data along with other data from fact checking organizations and investigative sources to provide an accurate, but not exhaustive, list of currently circulating misinformation.

              Source: Misinformation Alerts

                Views 851

                Perceptions of COVID-19 vaccines in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire: Synthesis of a qualitative study

                This document summarizes the results of a qualitative research done on perceptions related to COVID-19 vaccines in 2020, before the introduction of vaccines in Cote d’Ivoire in 2021. A “3C” model (Confidence, convenience, and complacency) was used to classify the major determinants of intention to be vaccinated in a population of adult residents of Abidjan.

                Source: Perceptions of COVID-19 vaccines in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire: Synthesis of a qualitative study

                  Views 796