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Why Gender Matters for Immunization: IA2030 - Second Webinar Series

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"The Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030) envisions a world where everyone, everywhere, at every age, fully benefits from vaccines to improve health and well-being. However, immunization programmes will only succeed in expanding coverage and equity when gender roles, norms and relations are understood, analyzed and accounted for as part of service planning and delivery."

Building upon the first webinar series organised by the World Health Organization (WHO), TechNet-21, and Immunization Agenda 2030 in 2023 (see Related Summaries, below, for videos and materials), this second series of webinars aims to further improve awareness and understanding of how gender-related barriers impact immunisation. The series offers examples and best practices of gender-responsive programming to improve coverage and equity from around the world.

Webinars include:

1. Session 1 (March 7 2024): Gender-responsive actions to improve the quality, accessibility, and availability of services - Immunisation programmes are sometimes designed without the meaningful involvement of women and girls and the communities they are part of, thus limiting their agency in the journey towards immunisation. Ahead of International Women's Day, this webinar showcases two examples of meaningful inclusion of women and girls through innovative strategies that put caregivers and healthcare providers at the centre of their design.

2. Session 2 (April 4 2024): Empower and collaborate with civil society and change agents to overcome gender barriers - Civil society, grassroots organisations, and change agents are powerful allies in overcoming gender barriers and increasing demand for immunisation services. They often work in the hardest-to-reach communities and have the local expertise to disseminate immunisation programme information. This second webinar showcases two promising approaches that aim to identify and reach zero-dose children and improve access to health services through the involvement of women's organisations in urban Mali and India.

3. Session 3 (May 16 2024): Advance gender equality and improve coverage through integrated services and collaboration across sectors - Immunisation programmes can be strong entry points to increase access to other primary healthcare services and education. Creating linkages with other health and non-health initiatives can improve immunisation coverage and advance gender equality. This third webinar will explore how two integrated interventions from Lao PDR and Zimbabwe helped expand reach and address gender-related barriers and inequities.

4. Session 4 (June 6 2024): Apply a gender lens to research and innovation


5. Session 5 (July 11 2024): Implement gender-responsive immunisation services in emergency settings - To be effective, immunisation services must be responsive to and address the different needs, priorities, capacities, and roles of people in emergency situations. Overlooking gender issues in emergency planning and response creates a danger for further entrenching gender norms and expectations, creating negative outcomes for women and other marginalised groups. Through concrete examples from different countries, the last webinar of this series will focus on the importance of gender mainstreaming in health and immunisation emergencies. Participants will learn how rapid gender analysis during outbreaks can not only contribute to gender equity and equality but also strengthen health emergency programming at all levels.

Publication Date
Languages
All sessions in English with simultaneous interpretation in French
Source

TechNet-21.org, March 27 2024, April 12 2024, April 18 2024, May 3 2024, June 18 2024, July 1 2024, and July 15 2024. Image credit: Mansi Midha/Getty Images/Images of Empowerment (CC BY-NC 4.0)