Recent Developments

COVID-19 Vaccine Peer Review Success for Penda!

A comparison of strategies to improve uptake of COVID-19 vaccine among high risk adults in Nairobi Kenya was carried out in 2022.

Background:  COVID-19 vaccine uptake in Kenya is still low compared to other countries, especially in Europe and North America.  In most parts of the country a large percentage of the Kenyan population remains unvaccinated.  As of October 2022 the Ministry of Health (Kenya)  estimates that only 36.2% of the adult population had been fully vaccinated.  

Methods: Penda conducted an experimental study in April 2022 targeting unvaccinated adults who had a history of typertension and/or diabetes and those in the 60+ age group.  They tested various messaging approaches using two different intervention channels.

Results:  Although the overall rate of vaccinated individuals according to national records is low, responses from the study group collected through phone call coversations show that higher-risk adults such as those older than 60 or those with chronic illnesses have a remarkably high vaccination rate of 89%.  After the study, four participants received a COVID-19 vaccine within 1 month of the intervention.  These four participants all received a loss-messaging intervention approach during the study.

Conclusion:  The study supports a national approach to increasing COVID-19 vaccination rates using loss-messaging directed at unvaccinated high-risk individuals.

The full study and it's findings can be accessed in the attached file.