The WHO Vaccine-Preventable Diseases and Immunization (VDI) team has been working closely with the Ministry of Health's National Immunization Programme to address vaccine hesitancy in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). The Hmong community is considered a high-risk group, sometimes displaying lower demand for primary healthcare services and lower acceptance of essential health services, like immunization.
In 2019, Lao PDR saw a very big outbreak of measles, with approximately 90% of the cases coming from the Hmong community. It was decided that tailored interventions were needed to effectively engage the Hmong community in order to promote immunization as a safe, effective and crucial way to protect health.
The MOH and the WHO set out to develop a video that focused on the Hmong community and explored the concerns and barriers to vaccination. The video was filmed in Somsamai village, Xaythany district, the epicentre of the 2019 measles outbreak. It features two families: one with all children vaccinated and a second family where the children did not receive any vaccine. The father of the second family stated, 'During that time, all my kids got ill; I could not eat because I was worried.'
One strategy employed was to include Hmong community influencers in the video to promote an understanding of immunization and provide clear explanations on why vaccines are so important to protecting health. These influencers include Chymai Yang, a Hmong radio announcer from the Ministry of Information, Cultural and Tourism (MoICT), and Koos Loos and Yus Lias, who are popular Hmong celebrities.
Koos Loos and Yus Lias (Hmong celebrities)
The father of affected children
WHO VDI team supported the pre-production and content development of the video. The video is now posted on the Lao NIP Facebook and Youtube page; click on the link below to watch the video:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/epilaopdr/videos/459137738819278
Youtube: https://youtu.be/5x0th6jThCE