Advocacy

Advocacy documents

Advocacy is best described as those activities designed to influence policy and decision makers, to fight for social change, to transform public perceptions and attitudes, to modify behaviour, or to mobilize human and financial resources. Such activities are vital if immunization is to be maintained as a leading public health activity.

Advocacy for immunization is essential to raise awareness on the role of immunization in improving the health of individuals throughout the world. There is irrefutable evidence that vaccines save lives, and there are many positive achievements to highlight - a large part of the world's population has been immunized against terrible diseases; smallpox has been eradicated, and one of the current scourges, polio, is close to eradication. Other facts speak clearly that there is still a long way to go:

• More than 34 million children worldwide do not have access to immunization services
• Every year more than 3 million people die from vaccine preventable diseases, most of them children in developing countries
• There is a growing gap between developed and developing countries in respect of immunization and other parameters
• The absence of an effective vaccine that guarantees long-life protection contributes to the high death rates from infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis

To address flagging interest and to increase support for immunization, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) was created in 1999. This alliance of immunization partners aims to protect health and save children's lives through the world through widespread use of modern vaccines. The initiative has generated a renewed interest in immunization as a major strategy in improving the lives of millions of individuals everywhere, and has catalyzed new funding for service delivery and research for new and better vaccines.

Advocacy on the renewed interest and commitment to achieve global routine immunization is needed to empower people.  Without political will at the global leadership level, there is limited opportunity to reverse the decline of routine immunization. The role of advocacy is to promote the essential nature of immunization.