By Kelly Clay, MS, CHES, PMP
The American Public Health Association’s annual meeting is the premier public health event of the year. Professionals from around the world come together to learn from each other, network, and collaborate. This year, several Karna teams were invited to present their contributions to COVID-19 vaccine confidence and capacity-building efforts. #APHA2023
During the meeting, Nikki Weinstein presented a poster1 on the 2022 global comprehensive training for the promotion of vaccine demand. About 600 participants from 92 countries participated in the training hosted by Gavi, WHO, UNICEF, and US CDC. The objectives were to help immunization program staff and stakeholders around the world:
- develop socio-behavioral insights,
- diagnose challenges to COVID-19 vaccine uptake, and
- design effective interventions that meet their community’s needs.
The virtual training included lectures, breakout group activities, and small-group simulation exercises to develop a national vaccine demand strategy for a fictitious country. Karna played a significant role in this intensive four-week training. Our staff planned and executed all training activity formats during the live sessions, provided administrative support for lecturers, facilitators, and organizers, developed and maintained a Learning Management System, provided support to coaches who worked on simulation exercises, and developed and implemented a robust program evaluation plan that included pre- and post-training evaluation surveys.
Ms. Weinstein also presented the evaluation findings as part of the Health Systems Strengthening and Service Delivery in Internal Settings panel2. In summary, most trainees:
- received certificates of completion,
- gained knowledge, tools, skills, and perspective,
- reported feeling more prepared and confident in addressing immunization program and community needs,
- felt more supported in their immunization efforts and connected to a community of practice, and
- were satisfied with the training.
Trainees also pointed out that the convenience, self-paced format, ability to download materials, and the ability to replay lectures were key benefits of virtual training.
This project highlighted that using virtual platforms to train a lot of people across many countries can be a cost-effective way to support global training efforts.
1. Devchand, R., Rodriguez, L., Clay, K., Weinstein, N ., Abeyesekera, S., Risal Pokharel, D., Abad, N., Menning, L., and Singh, S. (2023, Nov 11 – 14). Global comprehensive training to promote demand and uptake for immunization [Poster Presentation]. APHA 2023 Atlanta, GA, United States. https://apha.confex.com/apha/2023/meetingapp.cgi/Login/Paper/532418
2. Ramakrishnan, A., Weinstein, N., Abeyesekera, S., Menning, L., Risal Pokharel, D., Abad., N, Singh, S., and Purnat, T. (2023, Nov 11 – 14). An evaluation of the 2022 comprehensive training to promote demand and uptake of immunization [Conference Presentation]. APHA 2023 Atlanta, GA, United States. https://apha.confex.com/apha/2023/meetingapp.cgi/Login/Paper/532709