Dissemination of Covid-19 IEC materials
In Kenya, the first case of Covid-19 was reported in March 2020 and like many other countries globally, Kenya took measures to ensure the safety of its citizens to curb the spread of the virus. Mandatory measures were put in place like washing hands, sanitizing, social distancing, and wearing masks. COVID 19 adversely affected the elderly population and people with underlying conditions like diabetes, heart diseases, and Immunosuppressed conditions. Young people were mainly asymptomatic, meaning that they easily transmitted the virus to others unknowingly.
Kenya started vaccinating its citizens in 2021 and priority was given to the older population and front line workers who were more at risk of contracting the virus. With most of the older population having been vaccinated, younger people were encouraged to take up the vaccine. This has been done although the uptake has been fairly low. In 2021 Pfizer vaccine was approved to be used on young people from the age of 12 years. Kenya was at the forefront to vaccinate its younger citizens by sending vaccines to schools where children could be vaccinated with the consent of their parents.
The uptake of vaccines has however not been very high. Statistics from the Ministry of Health show that as of 30th March 2022, only 1,222,865 young people have so far been vaccinated. This is way below the set target by the MOH. In view of the above, the government is going to run an advocacy campaign to increase the uptake of vaccines amongst young people. The campaign involves using IEC materials that will be shared on social media platforms to encourage young people to get vaccinated.
MOH in partnership with World Relief organized a stakeholder meeting with the following objectives:
- To review the progress of the developed IEC materials on COVID- 19 targeting young people.
- To develop a plan to disseminate the materials developed.
Stakeholders discussed the guidelines that were used to develop the IEC materials and reviewed the materials that have been developed and made the necessary changes. The messages are expected to be catchy so that they can speak to the young people and encourage them to go get vaccinated.
Different organizations were assigned different roles in the process of development and dissemination of the IEC materials. OAY will be part of the committee assigned to develop the tools for the dissemination of the IEC materials. The materials will be pretested in Nakuru, Kajiado, and Turkana counties.
More follow-up meetings will be organized both physically and online to touch base on the development and dissemination of the IEC materials.