What is DSB?

Why are you here?

Immunization coverage in your context may be lower than it should be, or might be dropping. You may be worried that some children are consistently left out of immunization and other health services.

Immunization services can only succeed when people actively seek them. This is why vaccine demand is so important—it is about people’s willingness to seek out, accept, and use vaccines. It is influenced by factors such as trust in the healthcare system, understanding the benefits of vaccines, and overcoming practical barriers like access to services.

Why a Demand Strategy?

An Immunization Demand Strategy is a focused plan to increase vaccination coverage (the number of people vaccinated) by addressing the root causes of low immunization. It is a plan for how to overcome barriers to immunization—like access to healthcare services, trust, harmful beliefs, and awareness—and provides clear actions to increase demand for vaccines. An Immunization Demand Strategy is focused on the highest risk communities where children have never been vaccinated (zero-dose) or tend to drop out from routine immunization services.

You may need a demand strategy because families in your area are:

• Underserved: They want immunization services for their children, but can’t access them.
• Resistant or hesitant to vaccination: They can access immunization services, but choose not to.

What is the Demand Strategy Builder?

The Demand Strategy Builder (DSB) is a toolkit that helps you identify the reasons for low immunization coverage and develop evidence-based solutions to increase vaccine demand. This isn’t your average guidebook! This will be a collaborative, creative process.

You will be guided through each step, with all the tools you need to help you think systematically, and creatively, about vaccine demand. With the DSB, you will:

• Find new solutions to create demand for vaccination: You will apply ideas from fields outside of public health to develop innovative solutions for increasing demand.
• Understand caregivers and healthcare workers: The DSB guides you to engage directly with communities you are trying to serve. By listening to caregivers and healthcare workers in their own context, you’ll discover opportunities to create solutions that meet their needs.
• Reduce inequalities: The methods outlined in the DSB are aimed at finding and vaccinating the children who are being left out of immunization services.
• Make it practical: At the end, you’ll have more than ideas. The DSB offers a concrete plan for how to put strategy into action.

By the end of the process…

You will have an Immunization Demand Strategy to help you increase demand for immunization and vaccinate more children in the highest risk zero-dose or underimmunized communities in your context. The strategy will be for the subnational level—this could be a particular province or local region within the country, rather than at a national level. Your strategy will be:

• Focused on the needs of the highest risk zero-dose or underimmunized communities
• Localised
• Evidence-based
• Human-centred
• Solutions-focused

With this toolkit, you’ll use a comprehensive, step-by-step Immunization Demand Strategy based in Excel. Here’s what will be included:

• Immunization Program Objective: The main objective of your Immunization Demand Strategy
• Priority Locations: The areas and regions that your strategy will target
• Priority Communities: The key groups your strategy will support
• Barriers to Immunization: An overview of the key challenges that prevent caregivers from vaccinating their children
• Solutions: Simple and actionable steps to address these challenges
• Implementation Plan:
  • Timeline: When each solution will be implemented
  • Budget: The estimated cost for each solution
  • Funding sources: Where the money will come from to fund your solutions
  • Implementers: The people or groups responsible for implementing the solutions
  • Indicators: Measures to track progress and success

Ask Yourself: Do I need the Demand Strategy Builder?

Take a moment to reflect on your needs and see if the DSB is useful for you. Start by answering these key questions!