Demand for Immunization: A Human-Centered Field Guide for Investigating and Responding to Challenges

"[D]emand is about the complexity of people and why people do or do not make decisions and take actions. Understanding challenges of demand for immunization will necessarily always start here."

Developed by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), this platform draws on insights from human behaviour and employs human-centred methodologies to improve immunisation outcomes. It includes a field guide, process map, and workbook providing principles and a structured process to support more equitable immunisation outcomes.

The global health community has underscored the importance of prioritising the most susceptible populations rather than exclusively focusing on coverage. This pro-equity principle requires that immunisation programmes systematically identify and reach the least visible and most marginal. This, in turn, implies a need for methods to better understand the challenges facing these groups and identify opportunities to adjust the way services are provided. It is here that human-centred approaches come into play, with their emphasis on the lives and lived environments of the communities immunisation programmes intend to serve.

In addition to a website, the downloadable resources include:

• A 200-page field guide including in-depth instruction, tools, and examples for every stage of the process. Footnotes provide reference to the comprehensive research and scientific approaches in which the guide is grounded.
• A process map, which is a visual overview of five big questions to move through when investigating and responding to challenges involving users.
• A 38-page workbook offering a summary of each step of the process and its associated tools. Relying on the use of Post-Its, it encourages a team to be iterative and nimble in their approach.