**UPDATED on 20 November 2019 with quote from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands**
Nairobi, 12 November 2019 - Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and Girl Effect, with the Government of Rwanda, today announced plans to create widespread and sustained demand for immunisation and other health services among girls and women in Rwanda.
Gavi – an international public-private partnership focused on increasing access to immunisation in the world’s poorest countries – and Girl Effect – an international non-profit using digital media to inspire and equip girls to make positive choices – have partnered to collaborate with the Government of Rwanda to sustain and improve immunisation coverage in the country.
“For the last three years, we have partnered with Girl Effect to increase awareness about the benefits of HPV vaccination, enhance agency of young girls, empower communities to take the right decisions to promote good health and generate evidence on attitudes to immunisation,” said Anuradha Gupta, Deputy CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.” This new phase of our partnership will build on these initiatives, bring more intensive focus on gendered barriers to immunisation and ensure that no child is deprived of life-saving vaccines.”
In collaboration with the Government of Rwanda, Gavi and Girl Effect will conduct research to understand persistent gender barriers to accessing health services and vaccination uptake while developing tailored communication strategies to overcome them. This partnership will leverage Ni Nyampinga, Rwanda’s first multi-platform youth brand launched by Girl Effect in 2011 which now translates to mass engagement amongst girls, parents and communities across Rwanda.
With 79% of Rwandans aware of Ni Nyampinga and 42% consuming Ni Nyampinga content regularly1, this partnership will use media, both traditional and digital, to develop innovative behaviour change focused communications that help drive health seeking behaviours and uptake of routine vaccination, as well as facilitate more positive and open conversations around health.
“Girl Effect is thrilled to embark on this innovative work to drive demand for vaccine uptake with Gavi and the Government of Rwanda, taking the success of our current partnership one step further,” said Jessica Posner Odede, CEO of Girl Effect. “We will build on our experience to use behaviour change communications approaches to define a model for reducing gender barriers to immunisation that can ultimately be scaled up to change the lives of adolescent girls and young women in Rwanda and beyond.”
Behaviour shifting messages will be relayed through traditional channels, digital platforms and new digital innovations. In close collaboration with the Government of Rwanda, Gavi and Girl Effect will test these new approaches and co-create youth engagement strategies with Rwanda’s Ministry of Health and Ministry of Youth.
"Investing in youth is to invest in the future of our nation. Vaccination is one of the most effective interventions and with the support of immunisation partners Rwanda has achieved a lot in terms of vaccination coverage. The Ministry of Health will continue to work with partners to ensure the sustainability of our immunisation programmes,” said Dr Patrick Ndimubanzi, Minister of State in charge of Public Health and Primary Health Care.
The results of the vaccination programmes in Rwanda have been promising. In 2018 alone, 350,000 children were each vaccinated with the basic vaccine protecting against diphteria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP) and therefore protected from life limiting and threatening diseases. New vaccines have been successfully introduced since 2009 and the programme offers now 12 antigens in routine immunisation. However, some challenges persist which pose threats to immunity, such as issues of cross-border transmission, vaccine hesitancy, and the need to vaccinate a new cohort of newborns each year.
Establishing the root causes of these challenges and the barriers to vaccine uptake is critical to ensuring that routine immunisation reaches every last child. Rwanda’s context provides an opportunity to develop innovative steps and solutions to reach the last five percent known to be the hardest to reach.
In January 2015, the Dutch Government announced a EUR 10 million contribution in support of immunisation through Gavi’s Matching Fund. With the commitment of the Netherlands, Girl Effect funders and Gavi are jointly contributing US$ 1.8 million to the innovative new stage of this partnership.
“Adolescent girls and young women are not only beneficiaries of immunisation and health services, they are also agents of change in building community ownership and commitment towards routine immunisation,” said Kitty van der Heijden, Director General International Cooperation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. “The Netherlands’ is committed to supporting programmes that empower girls and women, and is pleased to support this extension of Girl Effect’s partnership with Gavi.”
Notes to editors
About Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is a public-private partnership that helps vaccinate half the world’s children against some of the world’s deadliest diseases. Since its inception in 2000, Gavi has helped to immunise a whole generation – over 760 million children – and prevented more than 13 million deaths, helping to halve child mortality in 73 developing countries. Gavi also plays a key role in improving global health security by supporting health systems as well as funding global stockpiles for Ebola, cholera, meningitis and yellow fever vaccines. After two decades of progress, Gavi is now focused on protecting the next generation and reaching the unvaccinated children still being left behind, employing innovative finance and the latest technology – from drones to biometrics – to save millions more lives, prevent outbreaks before they can spread and help countries on the road to self-sufficiency. Learn more at www.gavi.org and connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
The Vaccine Alliance brings together developing country and donor governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry, technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private sector partners. View the full list of donor governments and other leading organizations that fund Gavi’s work here.
