The PULSE project, titled 'Community Engagement for Vaccine Delivery,' was successfully launched on November 30th and December 1st, 2023, in Abuja. The project, a partnership between Childcare and Wellness Clinics, International Federation of Red Cross, and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of Geneva, brought together a research team led by Dr. Yashua Alkali, CEO of Childcare and Wellness Clinics, to tackle the complex challenges of vaccine delivery in humanitarian settings.
The research team, comprising senior researchers, ethnographers, transcribers, ethics and protocol officers, logistics team, and Red Cross representatives, convened to briefings to understand the project's scope and their responsibilities. The project aimed to establish an evidence and practice network to support community-led vaccine deployment strategies in humanitarian contexts.
The goals of PULSE included convening researchers and practitioners to define best practices, evaluating the impact of co-creation and community engagement on vaccination uptake, and producing guidance and establishing a community of practice for innovation in humanitarian vaccination.
This project aim to achieve:
- Establishing an evidence base and consensus on operational definitions of community engagement
- Developing a framework for evaluating co-creation of vaccine deployment strategies
- Generating evidence on innovative community engagement strategies
- Creating a global community of practice
- Supporting community-led vaccine deployment strategies in humanitarian contexts and contributing to the field of community engagement for vaccination.
The successful inauguration of the PULSE project marked the beginning of a significant journey towards improving vaccine delivery in humanitarian settings through community engagement.