When immunization is available, but not
accessed – what do you do?
HUMAN CENTERED DESIGN FOR IMMUNIZATION,
UNICEF
CHALLENGE
Immunization is one of the most important and cost-effective means of protecting children from illness and disability globally. Despite the availability of vaccines, demand for them is not always guaranteed, especially among marginalized populations who face unique barriers such as social superstitions, long distances to clinics, discrimination, and more.
Knowledge is
not enough.
FIRSTHAND INSIGHT
Identify intention-action gaps.
The most common assumption is that communities don’t vaccinate because their level of knowledge is low. In reality, there are several barriers to action even when awareness is achieved. Additionally, local health programmes often lack the resources for large-scale research and service design projects to understand how to tailor health services to the needs of underserved communities.
Design interventions that address barriers to action.
SOLUTION
Human-centered design is uniquely suited to provide rapid, low-cost research and design methodologies to help identify the true underlying causes behind the lack of demand and address the pockets of the world that experience vaccine hesitancy. Through workshops in over 20 countries, Firsthand built the capacity of UNICEF programme officers so that they can use the approach and methods to develop innovative solutions that create demand for immunization and bridge the gap between intention and action.
OUTPUT
A global team in search of new possibilities.
Teams have the necessary skills and knowledge to co-create with the community and develop interventions that solve for the challenge at hand and align with the communities’ existing habits, traditions, motivations, influences. The challenges identified extend beyond a narrow focus on knowledge and awareness issues, and the interventions themselves go past communication efforts. Interventions are adapted and tailored, and depending on the challenge and the community specificities, can range from innovative but simple reminder systems in Mali to discussion prompts at tea sellers in Sudan.
