National Vaccination Crusade 1985

The support strategies to the National Vaccination Crusade, 1985 included social marketing, social mobilisation, advocacy and community participation.

Social Marketing:
The basic parameters for the development of the process of promotion were established at the national level, taking into consideration that the sectional, regional and local management of communications was critical for the purpose of people receiving the basic information and motivation to take children to vaccination posts on the indicated days.

The intended population, to whom the produced messages were addressed, were primarily parents of low and very low urban and rural socioeconomic sectors with children below two years of age and women between 15 and 44 years of age within such sectors.

Messages also aimed to reach other members of the family and community members such as teachers, priests and other community leaders, because of their influence on those who make the decision to take children to be vaccinated. It was also determined that the communication action had to be "a lightning action", that had to occur in a record time and had to "flood" all mass media.

Like the previous year, the mass media continued supporting the Crusade. Caracol Television participated with its network of broadcasters that emitted 24 daily spots and had a continuous transmission for 12 hours during the Crusade days. 5 television spots and 198 spots for radio were produced. The newspaper El Tiempo led a massive motivation campaign; it published articles and interviews on the subject, and produced a special publication based on the results.

The messages transmitted through different media included:

• National: television, national radio networks, national posters, national press, stickers.
• Local: regional radio, placards with departmental data, t-shirts produced with regional financing, billboards, others.

The messages were of three types and they had to contain specific basic information:

• Informative messages: What? National Vaccination Crusade 1985; To whom? children below 2 years of age, women from 15 to 44; When? September 21, October 19 and November 30 (3 doses); Who? Ministry of Health.
• Educative messages: Which vaccines? How they act? Why three doses? What reactions? Who must be vaccinated? Sequels of the diseases, cases of exception.
• Touching messages: How many lives do we save? Suffering which the diseases cause; joy of a healthy child; lives saved by the National Vaccination Crusade of1984; no more infantile paralysis; Colombia world-wide leader in vaccination.

"Pitin" (the drawing of a healthy and happy boy) used from the previous Crusade remained as an element of identification and a basic symbol of the campaign. The "National Plan for Infant Survival and Development" that had initiated activities that year was added to the logo. The sectional levels also used the regional figures of Pitin.

For the Crusade days celebrations, spectacles and events were organised that created a celebration atmosphere. Private enterprises collaborated by providing gifts for vaccinated children.

National and local informative and motivational material was distributed through health institutions and posts, public places, churches, stores, supermarkets, etc. "Perifoneo" (similar to a town crier) was also an important dissemination media in urban and rural zones.

Flyers directed specifically towards women of fertile age, informing them about the benefits of the vaccine against the Tetanus, were distributed. Folders on the danger and symptoms of the diseases that can be prevented through vaccination and posters informing of the special day of vaccination were also produced and distributed. Bracelets were distributed in order to identify the personnel in charge of the vaccination posts and stickers were given to each vaccinated child.

Advocacy and Social Mobilisation:
In order to involve, motivate and generate participation from diverse sectors, communications were sent to the governors, intendentes, commissioners and mayors of the different municipalities, the secretariats of education, delegates of educative foundations and directors of educative institutions, bishops and priests of all the country; regional directors of the Colombian Family Welfare Institute (ICBF), regional directors of the Social Security Institute (ISS), regional directors of the Red Cross, supervisors and promoters of communal action and indigenous communities, etc. These communications were signed by the respective national heads of the institutions soliciting special collaboration and support for the Sectional Health Services during the accomplishment of the Crusade.

Information system:
In order to gather, transmit, process and provide information on the National Vaccination Crusade, two systems were designed:

Periodic Information Reports on the Vaccination Crusade: these were produced in order to provide motivation to the community and to promote healthy competition between different localities of a given region and between the countries' regions, using mass media collaboration. It was designed in such a way as to provide four reports during the days on which vaccines were nationally applied. These periodic reports - two hours apart from each other - summarised data on vaccinated children and the degree of achievement, based on goals (number of children to be vaccinated). The information flowed mainly via telephone and radiophone, from the local to the national level, beginning from the vaccination posts or centres, local or regional hospitals, Sectional Health Services, with a final destination of the mass media.

Information for the Assessment of the Crusade: this report was aimed at generating the minimum required information for an evaluation of the Crusade results at the local, regional and national levels. Its design features include a flow of basic data, directly from the local to the central level (vaccination posts, health institutions, municipalities, departments, national level), where processing and generation of required information took place. Feedback to the levels providing the basic data took place immediately.

"Canalisation" (or Channeling):
The flow of people towards the vaccination posts was supported through home visits by civil society employees, health agents, community leaders, or guides to each one of the homes of the different regions.

Education and Promotion:
Based on the experience of the 1984 Crusade, a plan was designed with the purpose of reaching the community to inform them on the role of vaccination, on the prevention of diseases that affect children, vaccination reactions, etc.

The magnitude of the material produced and distributed during the Crusade that year can be noticed in the following data: 1,050,000 flyers addressed to women of fertile age informing them about the benefits of the Tetanus vaccine; 1,500,000 folders informing them of the danger and consequences of vaccination-preventable diseases; 600,000 posters informing them of the special vaccination dates; 1,500,000 stickers given to every vaccinated child; 2,200 placards announcing local community goals; 25 explanatory billboards; 50 public service announcements for projections in movie theatres; and 198 radio spots.