Using effective media strategies to bridge gaps to hard-to-reach populations: case studies in Vietnam and Indonesia
Tailour a culturally relevant message to reach the ethnic minority communities to improve vaccine communications and vaccine uptake.
Vaccine refusal, delay or hesitation is a growing concern worldwide, proven through the increased occurrence of vaccine-preventable diseases in children. Reasons vary widely between parents, but they can be encompassed in four overarching categories: religious reasons, personal beliefs or philosophical reasons, safety concerns and a desire for more information from healthcare providers.
In Vietnam, research carried out by Dr Nguyen Thanh Ha in Dak Lak province found that most parents face structural challenges that prevent them from taking their children for vaccination, such as lack of transportation and/or a driving license, difficult routes to vaccination centres or difficulties taking work absences.
Another important finding of the research is that local healthcare workers and village health collaborators play an essential role in encouraging and maintaining the community’s vaccination behaviours.
In response to these findings, OUCRU collaborated with the Dak Lak CDC to develop a training programme to enhance the capacity of commune health collaborators and health station staff, with a particular focus on supporting their communication about the vaccines and vaccination process to communicate with the local community, who may not even speak the same language.
As an expansion of this effort, OUCRU’s Public and Community Engagement Group recently produced a short movie co-created with the local community using storytelling techniques to spotlight the real stories behind vaccine decisions, revealing their concerns and challenges in real life. This movie helps village health collaborators and health station staff appear more relevant, thereby facing fewer challenges while convincing the local parent community about vaccine-related matters.
“I noticed that people showed more concern and became more proactive about vaccination after watching.”
Village Health Collaborator
“I was very touched and emotional. I saw the consequences that children might bear for life.”
Community Member
Featuring community members to build connections
Research on improving access to care for people impacted by Hepatitis C used the participatory action research method to find that many high-risk community members including drug users or men who have sex with men didn’t know where to find trustworthy hepatitis information without the fear of being discriminated against. To address this issue, community-based group who joined the project initiated several ideas, including short videos featuring Hepatitis C-affected community members to encourage the Hepatitis C high-risk population to seek useful information from trustworthy sources.
Communications with a niche population in a challenging context
Over 150 million Indonesians are at risk of malaria, which over 90% of national malaria cases remain concentrated in Papua making this country one of nine malaria-endemic countries in the Southeast Asia region. Malaria eradication efforts prioritize safe and efficient vaccination strategies, although none with high-level efficacy against malaria infection are yet available.
Regular deployment of Indonesian Army personnel into high-risk areas makes the development of a malaria vaccine and trial on Indonesian minimally malaria-exposed infantry soldiers in Papua Province, New Guinea is considered ideal solution to reduce the risk of malaria transmission among the soldiers visiting Papua, travellers and domestic tourist.
In order to quickly explain and recruit those soldiers to join the malaria trial, OUCRU Indonesia’s Public and Community Engagement team developed animated explainer video and successfully got the approval from the Indonesian army.
The video served not only as an example of collaboration among all stakeholders but also as a powerful tool in research, showing the effect of clear communications and community engagement to support trial research.
Success in those community engagement stories requires more than just information dissemination – it demands a deep understanding of community needs, cultural sensitivities and the creative use of the right media methods and channels. When these elements come together effectively, they can be significantly impactful in supporting research and improving public and community health science acceptance.
