Bamako, Mali, November 2-3, 2004

Due to the recent outbreak of polio in Western and Central Africa, 23 countries have engaged in a series of joint National Immunisation Days (NIDs) to be held between October and December 2004. In order to facilitate the communication strategy for this project, UNICEF provided funding for several consultants. This two-day meeting was called by UNICEF/WCARO to allow the communication consultants to present the results of the first NID held in mid-October and to share and exchange ideas and experiences to be incorporated into the next round of NID’s in November. The meetings were designed to be an opportunity for the consultants to come together and impart their experiences with each other as well as providing a report to UNICEF on their progress.



Participants were forwarded a template prior to the meeting in which they were to include details of the strengths, weaknesses, and future action points they planned to pursue in the next round of NIDs in December. Presentations were made by consultants from Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, and Niger. To view a list of participants, please click here to download a PDF file. The consultants from Chad and Liberia were not able to attend. During the afternoon of the second day, consultants and UNICEF staff broke into groups for discussion and action point development in several issues areas. The meeting also produced a summary report that was then presented to the EPI (Expanded Programmes on Immunisation) meeting the following day.



Summaries of the main points of the individual presentations (in English) follow, along with the original communication matrix formats that were presented by the consultants (mostly in French). The summaries use an adapted format of the matrix which analyses different subject areas by assessing the Strengths and Weaknesses of the last round and Action Points to be followed in the run-up to the next round and beyond.

The Communication Initiative would like to provide two caveats to the following information. First, the translations of the communication consultants’ presentations were not performed by a Francophone staff member and thus may be subject to slight differences in interpretation. Second, it must be stressed that the consultant reports for these countries do not necessarily represent the actual communication priorities and policies of the national governments and ministries of health.

*Presentations are in alphabetical order
by country. Click on the titles to read the summaries.

Benin

Executive Summary

Full Report Summary



Cameroon

Executive Summary

Full Report Summary



Central African Republic (CAR)

Executive Summary

Full Report Summary



Cote d’Ivoire

Executive Summary

Full Report Summary



Ghana

Executive Summary

Full Report Summary



Niger

Executive Summary

Full Report Summary



Togo

Executive Summary

Full Report Summary