Social public relations (SPR) for enhanced immunization campaigns

Infant mortality, the rate at which innocent children die from vaccine preventable diseases (VPDs) is still alarmingly high in some parts of Africa and other developing countries. The death of an innocent child is a heart-rending phenomenon in all cultures all over the world, and this becomes more unbearable when the baby is the only child of the parent. Global immunization efforts at eradicating the VPDs have often been scuttled by superstitious beliefs, poor health-communications or wrong social marketing approaches. The killing of nine nurses engaged in one of the routine immunization exercises, in cold blood, at a Street in Kano State of Nigeria in February 2013, is a case in point. Even though they were on health-salvation mission to the people, to rescue their infants from the cold hands of death.Finding workable culture-centric social-marketing media for enhancing success of the immunization campaigns, in superstition-ridden communities is the aim of this study. This book will be useful to health professionals, marketing communicators, students and researchers in the health-marketing fields, and anyone concerned for the deaths of innocent children all over the world.