About our courses
Over the past 50 years, huge strides have been made in global immunization coverage. Access to vaccines has substantially increased, with over 86% of the world’s children covered by routine immunization services. The first infectious disease - smallpox - has been eradicated, deaths from measles declined by 80% worldwide, and all but 13 countries have eliminated maternal and neonatal tetanus.
But despite these major strides, progress in expanding immunization coverage has stagnated in the last decade, with an ‘immunization gap’ persisting across many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Eighty-three countries have yet to achieve ≥90% coverage of DTP3 and an estimated 13.5 million children under 1 year of age worldwide did not benefit from any vaccination in 2018.
This lack of global progress calls for a shift in how we approach immunization: away from focusing solely on access and information, and towards understanding and addressing context alongside people’s changing attitudes and behaviours around immunization.
To address the shift in immunization behaviour globally, this course includes a series of modules that will provide step-by-step guidance on how to design behavioural strategies for immunization. Each module follows a similar structure beginning with two-hours of self-directed online learning followed by an offline practical exercise and virtual lab session.
Following the completion of all modules, you will leave this course understanding what drives people to vaccinate their children, why people become vaccine hesitant, what you can do to generate resilient demand for immunization and how behavioural strategies can be leveraged to prevent and respond to pandemics like COVID-19.