JAKARTA – The Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) will make immunization a part of the lifestyle of the Indonesian people. The goal is to improve health or immunity in children.
This was conveyed by the Director of Immunization of the Ministry of Health, dr. Prima Yosephine Berliana Tumiur Hutapea, during the National Dissemination Meeting of the VaxSocial Program at the H. Usmar Ismail Film Center Building, Kuningan, South Jakarta, Monday, August 25.
The event, which raised the theme From the Hashtag To Awareness: Changing Conversations Into Protection, explained the achievements and lessons of the 2024-2025 VaxSocial program. The program focuses on promoting national immunization through social media campaigns and cross-sectoral collaboration.
“In fact, our dream is that immunization is a lifestyle, so there is no need to be chased anymore. All parents understand that once their child is born, there is routine work that must be done to protect their child,” said Prima.
According to him, the roles of various parties, including health cadres, community leaders, NGOs, and the private sector are very important to strengthen immunization messages.
“Everyone talks about the same thing, so that the resonance will get more echoy,” he said.
The Ministry of Health’s Director of Health and Health Promotion, Elvieda Sarinati, explained the Ministry of Health’s strategy in increasing awareness and demand for immunization. In addition to education, the government focuses on creating an environment that supports and strengthens health services.
“We empower cadres. We educate the cadres, we strengthen the cadres. Every month there is a webinar for cadres with the latest issues regarding immunization. We also involve schools with teaching materials, the importance of immunization,” explained Elvieda.
Cross-sector collaboration is also the key to the success of this program. Director of Global Health Strategies, Ganendra Awang Kristandya, revealed that digital strategies have proven to increase public knowledge and awareness about immunization in four provinces of intervention, namely North Sumatra, West Kalimantan, Riau, and North Sulawesi.
“We see an increase in knowledge, attitudes, and behavior towards immunization due to massive digital intervention, both through Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and others,” said Ganendra.
Head of the Riau Provincial Health Office, drg. Sri Sadono Mulyanto, explained that his area is one of the focuses of the Vax Social program. Community education efforts are carried out by utilizing social media and influencer support.
It is said that the direct and digital communication approach is able to increase the awareness of residents to come to the posyandu and complete the immunization of children.
Riau is one of the focuses that was made for yesterday’s research, then it was held how to provide understanding to mothers, also involving influencers as well as social media. The response is extraordinary, in Pekanbaru there are 2 sub-districts 2 health centers that are used as focus. It already has a WhatsApp group managed as well and the information is massive. If there is a posyandu activity, it will be informed there,” said Sri.
The VaxSocial meeting this time was packaged with the concept of edutainment through theater performances, comedy, to theatrical appearances to attract participants. The Ministry of Health hopes that the learning results of this program can strengthen national strategies in increasing immunization coverage throughout Indonesia.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language.
(system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
