Looking Back and Planning Ahead: Examining Global Best Practices in Communication for Inactivated Polio Vaccination Introduction in Rwanda

Abstract

The global polio community is committed to ensuring that all countries currently using oral polio vaccination (OPV) add at least one dose of inactivated polio vaccination (IPV) to their immunization schedules. Globally, communication efforts have been at the forefront of polio eradication programs for more than 25 years. This article combines research from secondary and primary sources of information on country experiences in polio vaccination and from the polio vaccination program in Rwanda. Secondary data included a review of 20 global articles that describe and analyze communication efforts for polio eradication and highlight best practices in communication approaches to address polio. The primary research consisted of qualitative and participatory data gathered from various stakeholders in two rural sites in Rwanda regarding approaches that could be used to develop culturally sound communication strategies to introduce IPV into the current routine expanded program on immunization schedule. Findings from this research highlighted the importance of identifying multichannel and multiaudience approaches to polio eradication that cut across different levels of the social ecological model. Findings further emphasize the importance of evidence-based and audience-centered communication programming to build and sustain the next big programmatic push for strengthening global routine immunization systems and replacing OPV with IPV. This article provides insights into the critical role that communication efforts have played and will continue to play in polio eradication worldwide.