Event highlights
17 April 2024
A mission to Tbilisi, Georgia, took place to advance 2 behavioural and cultural insights (BCI) projects in the country: one aiming to enhance influenza vaccine uptake among health-care workers and the other to improve linkage to Hepatitis C (Hep C) treatment and care.
To better understand the barriers to and drivers of influenza vaccine uptake, interviews were conducted with health workers at 4 hospitals. The insights gained during the hospital visits were discussed during a workshop, informing the next steps for a potential pilot intervention to be implemented during the upcoming influenza season in 2024. The influenza project working group comprises the WHO Country Office in Georgia, WHO/Europe’s BCI Unit and High-Threat Pathogens (PAT) team, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States of America (US CDC), and the Georgian National Centers for Disease Control (NCDC).
The mission also provided an opportunity to explore why some people are not accessing Hep C treatment and to delve into discussions about the care journey both people with Hep C and health workers experience. Site visits to 2 hospitals and a clinic helped to identify knowledge gaps, which will be addressed in the formative research over the coming months.
Members of the Hep C project working group include the BCI Unit, WHO/Europe’s Joint Infectious Diseases (JID) Unit, WHO Country Office in Georgia, US CDC, and Georgian NCDC.
Event notice
26 February 2024
The Behavioural and Cultural Insights (BCI) Unit and High-Threat Pathogens (PAT) team at WHO/Europe will embark on a joint mission in Tbilisi, Georgia from 26 February–1 March 2024. The primary goal of this mission is to advance 2 BCI/implementation science projects in Georgia: enhancing influenza vaccine uptake among health-care workers and improving hepatitis C treatment linkages.
A multi-year project has been initiated to implement and evaluate BCI-informed interventions to increase influenza vaccine uptake in Georgia among health workers and other risk groups. Influenza vaccination of health workers is critical not only to protect such workers and patients from disease, but also to demonstrate positive vaccination behaviour to patients.
The project will likely engage hospitals that have been involved in an ongoing COVID-19 and influenza vaccine study among health-care workers in Georgia. That study reflects a collaboration between the PAT team and Georgia’s National Center for Disease Control and Public Health.
A formative research project on hepatitis C aims to better understand the barriers and drivers related to completing the care pathway, with a particular focus on patients participating in confirmatory testing and initiating hepatitis C treatment, due to bigger drop-offs at these stages. The project will include qualitative research with patients and health-care workers, before co-designing potential interventions.
The BCI approach brings together robust methods and evidence to address both vaccine uptake and hepatitis C treatment, focusing on understanding the barriers and drivers related to health behaviours and the context in which they take place.
During the mission, the BCI Unit, together with the PAT team and WHO Country Office in Georgia, will engage in site visits and stakeholder meetings to explore the barriers and drivers of influenza vaccine uptake and hepatitis C treatment linkages, map user journeys and discuss potential interventions.
For more information on the mission, please reach out to euinsights@who.int.