Reducing COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Amongst Healthcare Professionals in Nigeria

In order to slow the spread of COVID-19, healthcare providers were prioritized for the roll out of limited vaccine supplies in Nigeria and in many parts of the world. Nonetheless, vaccine hesitancy persisted in this group, stalling efforts to combat the pandemic. M&C Saatchi World Services, Sydani Initiative, Upswell and George Washington University formed a consortium, with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to better understand and address the barriers healthcare providers face that were driving vaccine hesitancy. Drawing upon a social and behaviour change communications approach, the project aimed to reduce COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among health care providers in Nigeria, increase the uptake of COVID-19 vaccines and restore confidence in the safe provision of routine essential health services.

In order to better understand the motivational and ability factors that influenced healthcare professionals' decisions to get vaccinated, the project took a gender intentional approach. The consortium engaged Kore Global to provide guidance throughout the project to ensure the insights generated, social media content developed and learnings were informed by a gender equality perspective. Given Kore Global’s expertise in gender responsive research, program design and deep understanding of social and behaviour change communications models, Kore Global was well placed to ensure best practice approaches were integrated into the project.

Photo credit: WHO