Supporting EU/ WHO Immunization Awareness Campaign in Urban and Rural Areas of Georgia

2023-07-28

The United Nations Association of Georgia (UNA Georgia), with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO), continues a large-scale information campaign on routine immunization. 

The campaign aims to inform/ raise awareness about the need and importance of immunization among parents and guardians of children and adolescents who constitute the immunization target age group, as well as the personnel of relevant entities (local school staff, kindergarten teachers, and educators).

The information campaign consists of two stages. In the first phase of the project, representatives of the regional public health centers of more than 40 municipalities in Georgia participated in qualification training. 

Throughout the training, the participants enhanced their professional qualifications on the topic of immunization and advanced their skills in effective communication with the public to introduce the target audience to medical issues, provide simple and comprehensive answers to vaccine-related issues of interest to citizens, and deliver fact-based information to eliminate widespread disinformation. 

The second phase of the project's implementation consists of an information campaign across different municipalities in Georgia. The information campaign covers municipalities that have been identified by the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC) as having relatively low routine immunization rates, according to data from 2023.

The meetings are held with the local population, parents and guardians of children and adolescents who fall under the routine vaccination target group, kindergarten teachers, elementary school teachers and administration representatives, and village doctors. The information meetings are led by representatives of regional public health centers and the project’s public health experts. 

UNA Georgia’s immunization awareness campaign has already covered Tbilisi and up to 40 municipalities in 9 regions.

The information campaign is carried out by UNA Georgia, with financial support from the European Union and the World Health Organization.