Evaluation of marketing communication for vaccine-preventable public health risks in Westland’s Sub-county, Nairobi
Date
2020
Authors
Mahugu, Sammy Ngechu
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Strathmore University
Abstract
Travelers, migrants and host country populations face exposure to many diseases, including those preventable with vaccines such as Polio. Rapid evolution of globalization coupled with an exponential increase in number of international travellers has escalated the speed with which vaccine-preventable diseases spread globally consequently contributing to health insecurity in countries such as Kenya. This study interrogated the effectiveness of the various marketing communication strategies used in Westlands Subcounty by the Ministry of Health to raise awareness and generate demand for the polio vaccine in the year 2018. This was in order to get parents to appreciate the risk posed by vaccine-preventable disease to their children and consequently become persuaded to avail their children for inoculation during the vaccination campaigns. The study was grounded on the Theory of Reasoned Action and the Cognitive-Dissonance Theories and adopted a descriptive research design where questionnaires were administered to 403 mothers with children eligible for Polio vaccination. The sample consisted of mothers of children under the age of five who were eligible for vaccination within Westlands Sub County. Purposive sampling was used to generate a sample size 403 mothers to whom a standardized close ended questionnaire was administered. The data was analysed using SPSS for descriptive analysis through Logistic Regression. The results indicate that public address systems, health workers, Tv, radio and social media were the communication channels most effective in heightening the perception of risk of Polio transmission as well as persuading parents to avail their children for the vaccine. Social and psychological factors that influenced parent participation during campaigns were the dissenting opinions of Catholic clerics, educational qualifications of parents, government reassurances on vaccine safety and parents’ understanding of the rationale behind the campaigns. The results of the evaluation concluded that overall, the campaigns were successful in terms of optimizing the number of parents who were persuaded to avail their children for vaccination. There is however need to engage contemporary marketing communication channels such as social media to address vaccination concerns in real time.
Description
https://su-plus.strathmore.edu/handle/11071/12133
Keywords
Globalization, Vaccine-preventable diseases, Health insecurity