World Federation of Public Health Associations Call to Action in Immunization

This World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA) workshop calls for international action to improve access and uptake of vaccinations in all countries across the globe. We call on all levels of governments, governance levels in corporations (GAFAs), public health associations and like-minded organizations in every country to prioritize evidence based immunization decision making. We seek a commitment to increase supplies of cost effective vaccines, to improve awareness, and to program actions to strengthen professional capacity and human resources as a proven way of protecting health.

We recognise the dangers of an increasing number of outbreaks of measles and other vaccine preventable diseases. We are concerned that inadequate resources for health are not only limited to human resources for health but also embrace infrastructures, institutional capacity, and strategic investment. These are indicators that a more concerted effort is needed internationally.

The WFPHA aims with this call to feed into the deliberations of civil society in the lead up to the United Nations Assembly in September 2019 on Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
We call on all actors to implement an approach as set out in the Global Charter for the Public’s Health:

Services:

• Protection
o Support the adoption of UHC approach in every country to guarantee equitable and appropriate health care for every individual independent of social status or wealth
o Ensure access to vaccines for all people no matter where they live
o Support appropriate short and long term planning and regulation of immunization at the national level in a manner consistent with World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations
o Monitor vaccine production, supply and delivery to avoid vaccine shortages and guarantee equitable immunization for all, including appropriate access to new vaccines for diseases such as HIV and malaria.
o Increase efforts for the final steps to eliminate polio from the world
• Prevention
o Set goals and commit appropriate funding to optimize the protection of the public’s health in a manner consistent with the WHO recommendations
o Develop and strengthen partnerships to lead innovative research focussed on priority needs
o Reduce inequities in vulnerable populations through appropriate knowledge and understanding, access to vaccines, and by empowering health professionals
o Develop appropriate training programs for health professionals

• Health Promotion
o Apply an understanding of the social determinants of health to ensure equitable access to vaccines
o Counter the increasing lack of confidence in vaccination by addressing the “causes of the causes” of vaccine hesitancy
o Change behaviour through improved health literacy of professionals and individuals
o Understand cultural, religious, economic and gender barriers affecting immunization acceptance and develop appropriate solutions to break down such barriers
o Minimise the threat of negative press regarding vaccinations as perpetuated through social media by appropriate social and communication change strategies

Enablers:

• Good Governance
o Establish incentive systems, where possible, for primary health care providers to encourage immunization
o Ensure transparency, accountability and best practice governance in dealing with vaccination including appropriate auditing of health professionals activities by local entities

• Accurate Information
o Examine the rationale and the emotions linked to vaccination hesitancy and develop targeted innovative approaches to counteract such trends
o Disseminate accurate information as widely as possible through traditional and social media
o Support effective government campaigns warning of the dangers of vaccination refusal
o Institute appropriate and accessible electronic immunization history registers for use by health professionals and individuals
o Conduct mandatory evaluation of current and new vaccine programs including access, assessment of vaccine coverage, surveillance, safety and effectiveness

• Capacity building
o Support research and communication to empower health and other professionals to promote evidence based vaccine messages
o Improve knowledge and understanding of appropriate actions to be taken by health leaders, health professionals and educators through effective education and training
o Expand knowledge and understanding within communities and parents

• Advocacy
o Improve civil society leadership in raising vaccination confidence and uptake by governments and within communities
o Engage health professionals, NGOs and all stakeholders to provide a strong voice in the media, in the community and to governments in order to counter vaccine hesitancy and to reject false myths
o Improve coordination of wider advocacy communities to ‘speak with one voice’, to be better heard, and to avoid confusing stakeholders with conflicting messages
o Support action internationally to improve access to vaccination, to strengthen capacity in health systems, to improve human resource for health, and to provide appropriate financial resourcing for equitable delivery

WFPHA is an organization in collaborative relations with WONCA