Publications

The introduction of COVID-19 vaccination has been unprecedented in scope and challenges. While the risk of severe disease is lower in children and adolescents, vaccination significantly reduces the risk of severe complications in young people. Not only does vaccination protect children and adolescents from severe illness and death on an individual level, but increasing COVID-19 vaccination coverage among young people is critical to curbing overall community transmission of the disease at the population level.

Drawing on the UNICEF Innocenti Children and COVID-19 Research Library, this issue of the digest summarizes evidence of factors influencing caregiver decision-making attitudes and behaviours regarding vaccinating children and adolescents against COVID-19. Eleven research papers are spotlighted  along with some practical tools to support caregiver decision-making and enhance vaccine uptake. The evidence, insights and lessons from these studies can help policymakers and health practitioners better support caregivers to make important decisions related to the health of their children and communities.

Vaccination is one of the most effective measures for preventing illness, disability and death. In Europe and Central Asia, routine immunization rates vary between countries and over time. Behavioural determinants of vaccine hesitancy in the region include diminished trust among caregivers and health professionals; knowledge and awareness of vaccination; perceptions of risk; and health professionals’ skills, knowledge and attitudes.

This rapid evidence assessment aims to summarize the impact of interventions targeting caregivers, healthcare workers and the community to improve intention and motivation to vaccinate and vaccination rates of children under 5 years old. The evidence will inform policy and programmatic recommendations.

UNICEF supports the Government of Ethiopia to implement a pilot Integrated Safety Net Programme (ISNP) in the Amhara Region from 2019 to 2023. The objective of the programme is to harness the potential synergies that can be realized by integrating social protection policies and programmes. It seeks to test the efficacy of combining cash and services to improve nutrition and health outcomes for children and their households.

This report describes the conceptual framework and methodology for an impact evaluation of the ISNP intervention and presents findings from a baseline study. The baseline study confirms the low socio-economic status of PSNP households in the domains of housing conditions, sanitation, schooling, health seeking, food security, women’s agency, subjective wellbeing, sexual and reproductive health, access to social services, child nutrition and child protection. The PSNP clients are found to be generally worse off than the entirety of rural Amhara – confirming the targeting effectiveness of the PSNP. The study highlights the gaps that the ISNP interventions are meant to address and provides concrete action points for successful implementation.