Increasing COVID Vaccine Uptake in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Multidisciplinary Approach

This event is part of our Global Pervasive Computational Epidemiology Seminar Series.

Speakers:
Lauren Marks, Global Strategic Partnerships Lead, Johnson & Johnson Global Public Health 
Sunny Sharma, Director of Global Health, Ipsos
Rebecca West, Global Health Research Manager, Ipsos
Kenneth Davis, New Business Manager for Global Development, Fraym
Quinn Lewis, Analytics Team Lead, Fraym

Abstract: Johnson & Johnson Global Public Health (J&J GPH) has a mission of accelerating equitable health care delivery among the world’s most vulnerable and underserved populations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Africa has experienced a disproportionate burden of the disease and suboptimal vaccine uptake. This seminar showcases J&J GPH efforts to understand and combat vaccine hesitancy across the African continent by leveraging data and behavior science alongside private sector capabilities.

Specially, Lauren Marks from Johnson & Johnson Global Public Health will discuss J&J’s approach to understanding a target audience and designing interventions to reach them, with an emphasis on how and why to use tools like Behavioral & Attitudinal Segmentation, Message Testing, and Geospatial Analysis to find the right people with the right message.

Sunny Sharma and Rebecca West from Ipsos will then delve into the research findings from some of these studies. In 2021, J&J GPH and Ipsos conducted two phases of unbranded market research with unvaccinated adults in Kenya, Nigeria, and Zambia. First, a segmentation typing tool was designed and tested to define sub-groups of people according to attitudinal barriers and motivators to vaccinate – the confident enthusiasts, enthusiastic pragmatists, vaccine skeptics, and COVID-19 cynics. Next, a discrete choice experiment was conducted to test optimal messages across sub-groups to support vaccine uptake. In this seminar, Rebecca and Sunny from Ipsos will present details of the segmentation study and recommended message strategies.

Lastly, Kenneth Davis and Quinn Lewis from Fraym will explore the Geospatial Analysis. In partnership with J&J GPH, produced machine learning (ML) enhanced spatial population data to 1) map levels of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, 2) model the underlying drivers of hesitancy based on Confidence, Convenience, and Complacency, and 3) replicate the five Ipsos population segments. These data and models were all produced down to the community and neighborhood level (1km2) across ten countries – Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, and Zambia. This insight is being delivered through a custom web-based application to inform risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) and social behavior change (SBC) efforts among a wide variety of implementing partners working to increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake.  

Join the webinar here.