How are we doing on Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030)? Recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is, so far, generally insufficient to achieve IA2030 targets.

WHO’s 154th Executive Board meeting provided a sobering picture of how the COVID-19 pandemic reversed decades of progress in expanding global immunization coverage and controlling vaccine-preventable diseases.

Widening inequities between and within countries and over 3 million more zero-dose children in 2022 compared to 2019.

You may be surprised to read what WHO contends needs to change to get back on track.

Follow this link to read a quick summary https://redasadki.me/2024/02/05/widening-inequities-immunization-agenda-2030-remains-off-track/

What actions can global partners take to support countries to accelerate progress toward the goals of Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030)?

WHO has called for action “grounded in local realities”.

Growing evidence supports fresh approaches that do exactly that.

Here is one of them.

https://redasadki.me/2024/02/05/movement-for-immunization-agenda-2030-ia2030-an-opportunity-for-global-partners-to-learn-how-to-ground-action-in-local-realities-to-reach-the-unreached/

International Women’s Day (IWD) 2024: Women health workers face war, disease, climate change

Women health workers are facing war, disease, and climate change. How do they see the future? What do they think is needed to build a better world?

The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF) is pleased to announce an exciting initiative inviting women in our global network of more than 60,000 health workers to share their voices in the lead up to International Women’s Day on 8 March 2024.

Health workers in this network, men and women, are on the frontlines of adversity: they work in remote rural areas or with the urban poor. They support the needs of nomadic and migrant populations, refugees, and IDPs.

More than one in five face work for health in areas of armed conflict.

We have reached out to over 2,000 women health workers and humanitarians, inviting them to respond to two important questions:

1. What advice would you share with your daughter (or another young woman) who wishes to pursue a career in health or humanitarian work?

2. In a world facing widespread challenges, what difference can women and girls make to build a better future? What is needed for the next generation of women and girls to live healthy, fulfilled lives no matter who they are or where they are born?

We will share responses received through TGLF’s social media platforms, including LinkedIn, Twitter/X, Facebook, Instagram and Telegram.

“We need to speak up for girls and women who are the targets of rape”, says Dr. Rudahindwa Ntanda Lys, a public health physician who works for the Ministry of Health in the North Kivu region.

Please follow this link to like, comment, and repost the first story: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7165687286301503490

Gavi is sharing the voices of Climate/Health Scholars on its web site:

Follow this link to read the article:
Climate change and immunisation: time to widen the scope?
https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/climate-change-and-immunisation-time-widen-scope

We congratulate the following Scholars whose observations are featured in the article:
Ali Orchei Halliky, Chad
Dr Akhtar Hussain, Pakistan
Dr Avuwa Joseph Oteri, Nigeria
Dr Chinedu Anthony Iwu, Nigeria
Ismaila Edego, Nigeria
Taphurother Muhonja Mutange, Kenya
Ziketo Beugre Arnaud, Côte d'Ivoire

Show your solidarity for International Women’s Day (#IWD) by commenting and sharing these testimonials:

“Women and girls must be educated to manage knowledge”, advises Mariama Aboubacar, a rural development agent for an NGO in the Zinder region of Niger.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/geneva-learning-foundation_iwd-activity-7166335566039478272-GJsz

“Education is key to success. Without it, you’re nobody,” says Sandra Janice Misiribi, a community health worker from Kakamega County, Shinyalu Sub-County in Kenya.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/geneva-learning-foundation_iwd-activity-7166008668709183488-xf0n

“Saving lives is priceless,” says Wagoum Taleghang Fernande, a midwife from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, who works in a local Ministry of Health facility.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/geneva-learning-foundation_saving-lives-is-priceless-says-wagoum-activity-7165974546074841088-P2lP

Gavi is featuring IA2030 Movement Leader Felix Adipare from Ghana
https://x.com/gavi/status/1760952769941238147?s=20

“Empowered women empower women,” says Dr. Faiza Rabbani, a public health specialist who works for the Ministry of Health in Lahore, Punjab Province, Pakistan. This is a mantra, she explains, passed down from her late grandmother and now to her daughter, Anam.

Read her story https://www.linkedin.com/posts/geneva-learning-foundation_iwd-activity-7166718475707609089-dWyM

“Women play a great role in making the world a better place and building a better future,” says Eddah Kanini, a public health specialist from Kenya.

Follow this link to read Eddah Kanini’s story https://www.linkedin.com/posts/geneva-learning-foundation_iwd-activity-7167844768369094656-0uQM

“Pursuing a career in health work is not for the faint-hearted in Malawi,” shares Dr. Eugenia Norah Chigamane, a gynecologist working for the Ministry of Health in Lilongwe, Malawi. “You have to do it because you really love the work and you will find personal satisfaction.”

Read Dr Eugenia’s story https://www.linkedin.com/posts/charlotte-mbu-kaben-2b565298_iwd-activity-7168113863907872768-5zXw

Become a Teach to Reach 10 Partner: Help amplify frontline voices at the world’s largest health peer learning event

The Geneva Learning Foundation is pleased to announce the tenth edition of Teach to Reach, to be held 20-21 June 2024.

Teach to Reach is a massive, open peer learning event where health professionals network, and learn with colleagues from all over the world.

Teach to Reach 10 continues a tradition of groundbreaking peer learning started in 2020, when over 3,000 health workers from 80 countries came together to improve immunization training.

17,662 health professionals – over 80% from districts and facilities, half working for government – participated in Teach to Reach 9 in October 2023. Participants shared 940 experiences ahead of the event.

Teach to Reach is a platform, community, and network to amplify voices from lower-resource settings bearing the greatest burden of disease.

Teach to Reach 10 will focus on the impacts of climate change on health. Alongside the health impacts of climate change, other critical health challenges selected by participants for this tenth edition include immunization, neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), and neglected needs of women’s health.

In the run-up to Teach to Reach 10, participants will share their real-world experience. Every success, lessons learned, and challenge will be shared back with the community and brought to the attention of partners.

The Manifesto for Global Health, a visionary statement elaborated by over 1,300 health workers, will be launched at Teach to Reach 10.

A diverse range of over 50 global organizations have partnered with Teach to Reach since 2020, including Gavi the Vaccine Alliance, the Wellcome Trust, and UNICEF.

Alongside global partners and ministries of health, local community-based organizations will also be invited to become Teach to Reach partners.

Partners are invited to join the first Partner Briefing on Monday 4 March 2024, bringing together global health organizations with a commitment to listening and learning from health workers and the communities they serve.

Share this announcement online: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/geneva-learning-foundation_become-a-teach-to-reach-10-partner-help-activity-7168279129862172674-68Ax

How to overcome limitations of expert-led fellowships for global health

1,500 health professionals respond to a call to join a global health fellowship programme. 60 of them can benefit from coaching and mentoring. What happens to the remainder? And is there a more inclusive way to support everyone?

Read the full article: https://redasadki.me/2024/02/29/the-limitations-of-expert-led-fellowships-for-global-health/

Coaching and mentoring programs sometimes called “fellowships” have been upheld as the gold standard for developing leaders in global health.

Tailored, one-on-one coaching can be incredibly effective in small, controlled environments.

When we step back and look at the big picture, we realize there is a problem: these programs are expensive and difficult to scale.

And, in global health, if it does not scale, it is not solving the problem.

Follow the link to learn why such “fellowships”, while well-intentioned, can perpetuate existing hierarchies within global health – and how we can overcome their limitations.

Further reading:
How does the scalability of peer learning compare to expert-led coaching ‘fellowships’?
https://redasadki.me/2024/02/28/how-does-peer-learning-compare-to-expert-led-coaching-fellowships/

Calculating the relative effectiveness of expert coaching, peer learning, and cascade training
https://redasadki.me/2024/02/27/calculating-the-relative-effectiveness-of-expert-coaching-peer-learning-and-cascade-training/

Why does cascade training fail?
https://redasadki.me/2024/02/26/why-does-cascade-training-fail/

Movement for Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030): grounding action in local realities to reach the unreached
https://redasadki.me/2024/02/05/movement-for-immunization-agenda-2030-ia2030-an-opportunity-for-global-partners-to-learn-how-to-ground-action-in-local-realities-to-reach-the-unreached/

“I am very proud”, says Nurse Panmwa Mwatunwa, from Plateau State, Shendam LGHA in Nigeria, to be a health professional because “I save people’s lives”.

Read her story: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/charlotte-mbu-kaben-2b565298_iwd-activity-7168983782811758594-w-1S

Continuous learning is lacking in immunization.

This was a key finding presented at Gavi’s Zero-Dose Learning Hub (ZDLH) webinar “Equity in Action: Local Strategies for Reaching Zero-Dose Children and Communities” on 24 January 2024.

This lack may be an underestimated barrier to the “Big Catch-Up” and finding zero-dose children

• If top-down knowledge flow alone was sufficient, why do equity gaps persist?

• Why is it difficult for staff tailor strategies to marginalized contexts?

• What inhibits applying global best practices locally?

• How could on-the-job peer learning uncover what works to reach underimmunized communities?

What would it take to embed continuous learning into practice? Read the blog post https://redasadki.me/2024/03/03/why-lack-of-continuous-learning-is-the-achilles-heel-of-immunization/

Teach to Reach 10 Partner Update: 105 organizations from 36 countries and 16 Ministries of Health will be joining the first Partner briefing for Teach to Reach 10 on Monday

Here is the link to follow the briefing: https://youtu.be/FtZKYpIeabI

The flagship theme for this tenth edition is 🌱 #Climate impacts on health: how health workers are co-creating local solutions with the communities they serve.

Developed by more than 1,300 health workers, the 📜 Manifesto for investing in health workers, a call to action to transform #globalhealth, will be presented at Teach to Reach 10.

Partners are also invited to propose questions and challenges for Teach to Reach.

Other topics on the agenda include:
💪 Empowering women: addressing the neglected needs in women’s health
🦠 Combatting #NTDs: the silent battle against neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)
❤️ #NCDs: how health workers partner with patients, families, and communities to support self-care
🦟 Locally-led solutions to roll back #malaria
📚 How to improve learning to boost health worker #performance

The Movement for Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030) is a global network of over 16,000 immunization leaders – primarily government health workers from districts and facilities – who have committed to achieve the goals of IA2030. Here are some of the topics that will be brought to Teach to Reach 10 by Movement Leaders:
🎉 Celebrating 50 years of the Expanded Programme for Immunization (#EPI)
🌀 Integration of #polio eradication efforts into routine immunization (RI)
🌞 Yellow fever vaccination
🛡️Local solutions that support #HPV vaccination demand and uptake
🚫 Zero-dose children: what works to identify and reach in local communities