CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

1.2 Problem statement

1.3 Research Questions

1.4 Research Hypotheses

1.5 Research Objectives

JUSTIFICATION FOR THE STUDY

The scope of this study would be based on the people under Buea health district, and using the  population as sample it will provide more details on communication methods like the behavior change communication, skills teaching communication and many others that will be useful to create awareness, educate, and disseminate information on vaccination, and various  channel (mass media, interpersonal, groups etc) that are used to do immunization campaign, there would be some that the people under Buea Health District will find useful which means there should be flexibility deciding the ways to enhance communication as this might be subjective to each community. The sample population will be all those who will be susceptible to vaccine preventable diseases (0-55) years.

SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

This study will be aimed at knowing the usefulness of communication methods enhancing information dissemination and creating of awareness for immunization against VPD through surveys with the use of semi-structural questionnaires to get detailed results. Using the health belief model which has been a guide to explain people’s health behavior, the project will also give an insight on which communication strategies will be able to communicate effectively to the residents of the Buea Health District.  In addition, the project will also give an insight on communication strategies to be used whenever immunization campaigns are ongoing and the location where parents are supposed to take their children to get vaccinated.

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Background

Vaccination Communication Interventions

Communication about vaccination is implemented around the world to generate and maintain demand for routine immunization and to promote large-scale vaccination campaigns ^[2-5]. Interest in communication has grown with its emergence as a potentially effective strategy to address vaccine hesitancy ^[6-10]. The term ” communication strategy on vaccination” includes many interventions with a number of aims or purposes: to inform or educate, remind or recall, enhance community ownership, teach skills, provide support, facilitate decision-making and enable communication toward immunization ^{[2, 3].} Vaccination communication is dynamic, involves multiple actors, operates at an individual as well as a broad public health level, and is often delivered in complex packages with multiple components ^[11]. Evidence from high-quality studies and systematic reviews is necessary to inform implementation ^{[12, 13],} but determining how to evaluate the effects of these diverse and often complex interventions is a significant challenge. Given the variety of vaccination communication strategies, it follows that there should be a similarly wide range of potential outcomes, from socially-oriented outcomes related to communication and engagement to health status and health service outcomes, such as vaccination status or timely delivery ^[14].

         Communication is defined as a purposeful, structured, repeatable and adaptable approach to inform and influence individual and community decisions in relation to personal and public health participation, disease prevention and promotion, policy making, service improvement and research ^[12,13].  It is draw from many theories and disciplines, including social cognitive and communication theories, marketing and public relation ^[12]”. Ready access to relevant, reliable, and culturally appropriate information enables the general public, patients, health care providers, public health professionals, and others to address personal and public health concerns far more effectively than in the past ^[13]. Public health experts recognize health communication as vital to public health programs that address disease prevention, health promotion, and quality of life.  In the wake of the anthrax crisis in 2001, communication was defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and other federal authorities as the most important health-care-related science of the twenty-first century ^[14]. For example, health communication campaigns have helped to reduce the stigma around HIV and AIDS, making it easier to convince people to get tested ^[14]. For the first time, health communication is part of the Healthy People 2010 objectives, the official public health agenda of the U.S. federal government. Health communication courses as well as specific health communication programs have been flourishing in the United States and around the rest of the world ^[11]. This has created the need for comprehensive and up-to-date tools to train students and staff on health communication theory and practice, providers, public health professionals, and others to address personal and public health concerns far more effectively than in the past ^[10]. The recent health communication “renaissance,” as it has been called by a few authors ^[13], has also been accompanied by a passionate attempt to redefine health communication and its role in public health, as well as to encourage health professionals around the world to take advantage of this tool whenever possible. In doing so, most authors and practitioners seem to agree that health communication is an approach drawing on multiple disciplines, including mass communication, social marketing, health education, anthropology, and sociology ^[14].