The campaign “Bora Lá Vacinar” (“Let’s Vaccinate”) was created to build capacity in community leaders in the city of Belém do Pará, aiming to sensibilize them and to provide relevant information about vaccines for children, so that they could disseminate this message to parents and caregivers, encouraging vaccination.
The campaign reached 800+ families, resulting in a 14% increase in the perception that vaccination helps preventing outbreaks and epidemics of diseases such as measles, chickenpox and meningitis, for example.
The project was led by Verified, a UN initiative in Brazil, in collaboration with G10 Favelas, locally organized by women’s collective Coletivo Fênix de Mulheres Jurunenses and the NGO Ocas, with technical support by Sociedade Brasileira de Imunização (SBIm).
After two years of pandemic, the largest sustained decline in childhood vaccinations in the past 30 years has been recorded all over the world, according to WHO and UNICEF.
The same happened in Brazil: 26% of children did not receive any dose of vaccines in 2021. According to the report “The State of the World’s Children 2023: For every child, vaccination”, about 25 million children are missing out vaccines.
Among Brazilian states, Belém has the second lowest rate of vaccination coverage in children, according to the ranking of capital cities in the Northeren Region of Brazil. – 51% of babies and children were immunized in 2022*
*DATASUS
“Parents and caregivers who know fact-based information, based on relevant evidences, to answer their questions and concerns, are more likely to trust vaccines.” – UNICEF
In a community where almost 100% of the households have children and often lack the assistance of community health agents, Purpose, in colaboration with G10 Favelas, Coletivo de Mulheres Jurunenses, NGO Ocas, and the Brazilian Immunization Society (SBim), came up with a campaign in Jurunas neighborhood, aiming to increase the trust in vaccination and, in consequence, also improve vaccination rates.
If we engage community leaders to disseminate accurate information about childhood vaccination and its benefits to their caregivers, we can increase trust in immunizations, in order to improve vaccination rates in the region.
In april 2023, we developed actions in Jurunas neighborhood, in Belém do Pará, focused on changing their perception about the importance of vaccination. Our goal was to make residents rethink vaccine reactions and reframe their perception of risk, by understanding that, after vaccination, their children would be protected every day.
Leader’s training:
We held training workshops to community leaders in Jurunas neighborhood, guided by Dra. Jaqueline Goes, with relevant information about vaccination on children, so that those leaders could disseminate the message to parents and caregivers.
The training consisted of in-person workshops, offline communication assets, dynamic training, and a custom inspirational message by Dr. Drauzio Varella.
Sharing in the neighborhood:
From door to door, community leaders handed out booklets to their neighbors, with information about the importance of following the full vaccination schedule. They also distributed fridge magnets and material via WhatsApp.
We also counted on the participation of trusted messengers, such as singers Dona Onete and Renato Rosas, who recorded a special jingle for the campaign, and Dr. Drauzio Varella, who recorded a public message played for the community on bikes equipped with public address systems.
The campaign “Bora Lá Vacinar” had impact measurement in each stage. We measured from the training sessions to the actions in Jurunas neighborhood, to assess the recalling and effectiveness of communications in the campaign.
We interviewed 41 street presidents (community leaders, as G10 Favelas calls them) to understand their perception about the content on childhood vaccination, and if our formats of communication had used the right language and met their expectations. We carried out a recall survey, with more than 500 people interviewed in the community, to understand if our content was informative and if there was a change in their perception about the importance and safety of vaccination on children.
- 100% of the content about childhood vaccination filled in the gaps in the knowledge of street presidents.
- 93% of street presidents feel more prepared to talk about childhood vaccination with families in Jurunas.
- 18% more people in the community area covered by the work of street presidents believe that all vaccines are safe.
- A 14% increase in the perception of people in the community that vaccination helps preventing disease outbreaks and epidemics.
- Survey has shown that the more points of contact people had with the campaign’s content, the more effective the campaign was in changing people’s perception.
- G10 Favelas and Coletivo Fênix de Mulheres Jurunenses – Local articulation and coordination of community leaders (street presidentes), hosting and managing the training workshop at their headquarters, and helping disseminate information.
- Brazilian Immunization Society (SBIm) – Collaboration on building the campaign narrative and technical support to produce content for texts and surveys.
- NGO Ocas – Collaboration on audio production and art assistance on the campaign jingle.
for Equity & Evidence