World Immunization Week 2018 Resources

Join the action!

The World Immunization Week planning coalition has created a number of resources and actions collaborators can take to support global calls for action on childhood immunization and celebrate success to date. Check out the WHO World Immunization Week website , where you can find key messages , country stories , and the WIW2018 Digital Toolkit.

Here, Stop Pneumonia presents a selection of messages, tools and information of special relevance for pneumonia advocates.

The pneumococcus is the leading cause of pneumonia deaths and of severe pneumonia infections in children but global coverage of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) is still only about 40%, according to WHO:

In 2016, global coverage of the two most important vaccines protecting against severe pneumonia – Hib and pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) – were 70% and 42% respectively. (Learn more about coverage of vaccines against pneumonia and other infections from WHO’s Immunization Coverage fact sheet here.)

Data from the World Health Organization showing coverage of lifesaving pneumococcal conjugate vaccine was 42%, globally, in 2016. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs378/en/

These figures mask a significant difference in vaccine coverage between world regions, especially for PCV. Check out UNICEF’s Pneumonia Status and Progress Update from March 2018 here for two revealing charts on vaccine coverage of Hib and PCV by region, as well as much more about childhood pneumonia, and protect-prevent-treat interventions including vaccines.

Learn more about pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) and other vaccines that protect against pneumonia (and other severe infections) on the “Prevent” page of Stop Pneumonia here. For in-depth information on pneumococcal vaccines, check out IVAC’s PCV Technical Information Briefing here.

Get social (media, that is) with IVAC:

Help IVAC share messages from our World Immunization Week 2018 Social Media Toolkit from April 24-30th 2018. The toolkit features messages from:

• The Value of Immunization Compendium of Evidence (VoICE)– Developed using evidence from the VoICE tool, the IVAC Toolkit features messages on the value of vaccines beyond morbidity and mortality. Example tweet: “ Vaccines help promote healthy childhood growth and physical development by breaking the cycle of childhood infections. Vaccinated kids in Kenya were 27% less likely to have stunted growth than unimmunized kids https://bit.ly/2HplQrd #VaccinesWork ” [image for tweet below]

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• VIEW-hub –  VIEW-hub is an online data visualization platform. The IVAC toolkit shares the utility of VIEW-hub, such as national and subnational information on vaccine introduction, disease burden data, and more! Share a message from VIEW-hub, such as: “@IVACTweets makes vaccine data accessible to country leaders everywhere and anywhere. That’s why VIEW-hub now has a new mobile app and national and subnational level immunization data. Strong evidence supports strong leadership! #VaccinesWork http://view-hub.org“​ [image for tweet below]

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• IVAC’s champion quote cards – IVAC salutes vaccine champions from around the world. In the IVAC Toolkit, you will find messages from around the world from vaccine advocates who share why they have dedicated themselves to ensuring vaccines for children everywhere. Example tweet: “Dr. Meher Taj Roghani, an elected leader of #KP, Pakistan, believes in communicating the integrated approach to protecting child health. Vaccines and breastfeeding are important parts ! #VaccinesWork @IVACTweets”

Pneumonia Vaccines: Secret Weapons in the War on Poverty – from the VOICE Tool

In anticipation of World Immunization Week, the Value of Immunization Compendium of Evidence (VoICE) tool brings you a special feature on the evidence related to the complex and interwoven relationship between childhood pneumonia, poverty, and vaccines. In the VoICE feature you will find explanations and evidence around:

• The reciprocal relationship between pneumonia and other common childhood infections, nutrition, HIV and more
• Risk factors for pneumonia stemming from parental education and air pollution
• The role of pneumonia vaccines in protecting the most vulnerable and the unvaccinated
• The economic benefit of pneumonia vaccines to poor households and nations

Read on to find out more and what role vaccines are playing in the war on poverty…

Attend DefeatDD’s “Take the Plunge” Pop-Up Event

DefeatDD, a partner in the Stop Pneumonia Coalition, is hosting an event called “Take the Plunge” in Washington, DC on May 2. Throughout the event, DefeatDD will share messages on Twitter and on their new Instagram handle @DefeatDD, using the hashtag #TakeThePlunge.

Look back on the drumroll to WIW: #ThrowbackThursday Campaigns featuring pneumonia, rotavirus, and more

Several partners have hosted #ThrowbackThursday Campaigns in the lead-up to World Immunization Week to help us see progress and the remaining work needed to make vaccines available to children around the world. Check out these campaigns on social media:

1. Global Citizen shared the story of smallpox eradication. Check out these blogs:
   • ‘They Used to Call Me Spotted Deer’: A Smallpox Survivor Tells His Story (Global Citizen)
   • What the Eradication of Smallpox Taught Us About Vaccines (Global Citizen)
   • We Eradicated Smallpox. Why Do Other Preventable Diseases Persist? (Global Citizen)
2. Save the Children UK helped us imagine a world without vaccines in a blog post.
3. Every Breath Counts highlighted the need to address pneumonia to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 3.2).
   • See the graphics they created for the campaign
   • Read their article outlining why PCV coverage is so critical to national child survival efforts.
4. The Gates Foundation and DefeatDD helped highlight “Rotavirus – the little-known child killer.”
   • The Gates Foundation published an Instagram story celebrating the pioneering work of Dr. Ruth Bishop who discovered rotavirus in 1973.
   • UNICEF USA published a Facebook post and blog on advances made against rotavirus in the last four decades.
   • DefeatDDand WHO both pointed to the advances in child health thanks to rotavirus vaccines.
5. Rotary International will turn their eye to polio on April 19. See below for some shareable messages, and check out the shareable graphics here.
   • VIDEO: Hans Everts, long-time polio eradicator, takes us back to the frontline of outbreak response, and shares lessons #TBT #VaccinesWork https://youtu.be/CgPcVZJsO24
   • Let’s make polio the second human disease we’ve ever wiped from the planet. Learn more about what it’s going to take to get there. @EndPolioNow #VaccinesWork [Link to Why Zero Matters Video for download]: http://video.rotary.org/i78/why-zero-matters/]
   • Meet Wellbee, the original Polio Mascot! Wellbee’s first assignment was to help promote immunization in the United States. #TBT #VaccinesWork @CDCgov link: https://www.cdc.gov/museum/history/wellbee.html