The Ministry of Health (MoH), UNICEF and the Wan Smolbag (WSB) Theatre group with funding from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), have launched a comic book and videos on COVID-19.
Subsequently, ‘Protektem yu, famili, komuniti mo fiuja blong Vanuatu’ is becoming a familiar jingle resounding through households in Vanuatu on TV and radio, as well as emphasised through the new COVID-19 vaccine communication products.
In three months since the vaccination drive began, Vanuatu has reached over 50 per cent of the eligible population covered with the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 18 per cent of the eligible population with two doses in SHEFA province.
About 92 per cent of healthcare workers in SHEFA have received the first vaccine dose and SANMA province has also recently launched the vaccination campaign on 25 August.
However, with an urgent need to scale up the vaccination rollout to reach the remaining provinces, this communication campaign will assist in communicating with communities on the importance of vaccination.
MoH Director General, Russel Tamata, said, “I am pleased to announce the launch of these tools to continue providing information to communities on the COVID-19 vaccine.
Partnerships and products like these are important to dispel myths circulating in our communities and increase uptake of the vaccine.”
The newly launched tools will support community engagement activities to educate people on the benefits of the COVID-19 vaccines.
“Engaging with communities to explain the benefits of the COVID-19 vaccines and why they should take the vaccine is vital,” said UNICEF Pacific’s Chief of the Vanuatu Field Office, Eric Durpaire.
“It’s important to listen to communities and respond to concerns and questions.
“These tools will be an additional resource that the provincial teams can use to engage with communities.” Through the MoH and UNICEF partnership with WSB, over 10,000 people so far were reached with key COVID-19 messaging on Efate and Santo Islands.
23 workshops completed on Santo have also involved almost 800 key influential leaders.
“It was good to spend time in communities and answer questions about people’s fears and worries regarding the vaccine,” said the Community Facilitator at WSB Theatre, Danny Marcel.
“Often someone from the community would use the workshop to tell others to get vaccinated. Because we’d had the vaccine, it was easy to show that it doesn’t give you the mark of the beast! We could talk about side effects and say they do occasionally happen but it’s far safer to get the vaccine than COVID-19.”
The comic books and videos will be used by provincial teams to engage with communities on the COVID-19 vaccine prior to vaccine rollout in the remaining four provinces. While information saves lives, even more important is two-way communication that leads to individuals and communities being empowered to act.
Everyone must play their part to educate people on the benefits of the COVID-19 vaccines and spread the message about ‘Protektem yu, famili, komuniti mo fiuja blong Vanuatu’.
Photo supplied Caption: Russel Tamata, Director General of Ministry of Health, Rebecca Olul, UNICEF Vanuatu Peter Walker, WSB representative, Eric Durpaire, UNICEF Vanuatu, Jean Jacques Rory, Manager of MoH’s Health Promotion with the new comic book