This week @Vaccines is curated by Dr. Julie Lyn Hall, Head of Health and Care at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, who will be tweeting from the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul and the World Health Assembly in Geneva.
Immunization interventions are a natural entry point and driver to provide broader health services closer to communities who need them most.
As members of their own communities, Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers are familiar with their environment and know how best to bridge the social, cultural and other barriers that impede progress towards ensuring equitable access to life-saving vaccines.
The IFRC advocates for the integration of immunization, nutrition and malaria interventions with other disease control programmes in order to ensure that essential health services are provided in an equitable manner to all communities with a focus on reaching underserved populations.
Dr. Hall looks forward to bringing all of this experience to bear at the upcoming World Humanitarian Summit, where the IFRC’s participation will focus on the role of civil society organizations and community health workers in scaling up support to immunization initiatives and contributing to universal health coverage. Later in the week, she will live tweet from the World Health Assembly, including during the session reviewing progress made to date on the Global Vaccine Action Plan.
