Vaccinate yourself! Be informed!

Name of the activity: Vaccinate yourself! Be informed!

Country/NMO: Romania (FASMR)

Program: Communicable Diseases

Contact information: [email protected]

Type of the activity: Education. Education on health issues for specific societal groups, either in the form of projects (set of tasks for a certain group over a fixed period of time), events (something notable that happens) or conferences (form meeting about ideas related to a particular topic, usually over several days).

General description:

Lately, the rate of immunization has fallen sharply, below 85% and the rate of vaccine-preventable infections has been worryingly increasing. Both the measles epidemic in Romania and the misinformation produced by the media have urged political action and the creation of this project. It consists of public informing campaigns on the risk of non-adherence to the national vaccination scheme in high schools and universities in the local community, as well as workshops aimed to educate future doctors how to approach the subject of vaccination with their patients.

Focus area:

Preventable Diseases

Problem statement:

The Ministry of Education has released a survey showing that only 40% of children have been vaccinated with MMR vaccine in the previous year. Both the measles epidemic in Romania and the misinformation produced by the media have urged political action and the creation of this project.

Target groups:

General population, Medical students, Healthcare Students, Other Students, Other health professionals, Youth, Women

Beneficiaries:

General population, Medical students, Healthcare Students, Other Students, Other health professionals, Youth, Women

Objectives and indicators of success:

The objectives of this project are:

• educating and informing volunteers about the composition and side effects of vaccines, as well as the current legislation

• organizing a presentation held by a microbiology specialist for medical students at the local university

• informing a number of 600 beneficiaries

• creating a survey on the reasons why people do not get vaccinated and the information they have about vaccines

Lately, the rate of immunization has fallen sharply, below 85%, and the rate of vaccine-preventable infections has been worryingly increasing. Both the measles epidemic in Romania and the misinformation produced by the media have urged political action and the creation of this project.

Methodology:

The project consists in 2 editions every year, in which volunteers go to different high schools in the local area where they present the benefits of vaccination, as well as the importance of a local institute, which is the only national producer of vaccines. Furthermore, the project has developed a lot lately and volunteers are holding presentations in universities, as well as organizing workshops aimed to teach future doctors how to approach this subject when it comes to patients.

Plans for evaluation:

During the presentations participants take a survey on what we consider general knowledge about vaccines and, if it is the case, why they do not find vaccination useful. By means of this survey, we also count the number of beneficiaries and after the first edition we exceeded the goal by 200 beneficiaries. What is more, we keep in touch with our partners and ask for feedback on the presentations and the performance of our volunteers constantly.