{"id":1977,"date":"2017-07-12T14:27:05","date_gmt":"2017-07-12T14:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/polioplusng.org\/en\/?page_id=1977"},"modified":"2017-09-18T17:21:17","modified_gmt":"2017-09-18T17:21:17","slug":"the-communities","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/polioplus.org.ng\/en\/what-is-polio\/the-communities\/","title":{"rendered":"The Communities"},"content":{"rendered":"[vc_row row_padding=”no”][vc_column][vc_column_text]\n

Health Workers are the key<\/span><\/b>
\nWhen polio was widespread, communication strategies often used what is known as risk communication, targeting individual caregivers with facts about polio and polio vaccination to inform caregivers and educate communities about the need to protect and vaccinate children. As the virus\u2019 hold has shrunk to very limited parts of the world, communications has evolved to address the dynamic perceptions and social norms that deter caregivers in the remaining 1% of the world from vaccinating their children.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative\u2019s shift to \u2018social norm communication\u2019 is led by UNICEF and grounded in recent polling research on populations affected by polio in endemic and outbreak contexts, and their responses to polio eradication efforts. Primarily, this research shows that families in high-risk areas are discouraged from vaccinating by the prevalent social norms. Communication strategies therefore aim to shift those norms, much as smoking has been shifted from the norm in many countries.<\/p>\n

The eradication of polio depends on the success of polio programme health workers (e.g., community health workers, social mobilisers, vaccinators). Their success in the field revolves around a single pivotal moment: the short, interpersonal interaction between health workers and caregivers, or \u2018the knock\u2019 on the door.<\/p>\n

The Communities<\/span><\/b>
\nA caregiver\u2019s decision does not exist in isolation. It is both a personal decision, and a consideration of familial and community views about the act of vaccination itself.<\/p>\n

Is it celebrated or discouraged?<\/p>\n

Does the community respect the role of health workers?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Community engagement does not just happen during vaccination days. It is an ongoing conversation with the community that requires an iterative loop of listening and responding.<\/p>\n

The GPEI Community Engagement Strategy considers three main phases:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n