THE JOURNAL OF THE CANADIAN PAEDIATRIC SOCIETY

FEATURE EDITORIAL

Immunize your kids - Boost their chances for health: The Canadian Immunization Awareness Program

In the fall of 1996 the Canadian Public Health Association, the Canadian Paediatric Society, the Canadian Medical Association and Health Canada came together to form a coalition that would mount an ongoing campaign to raise awareness of the need for childhood immunization in Canada. Since that time, the coalition has been joined by the Canadian Nurses Association, the Canadian Pharmacists Association, the College of Family Physicians of Canada, the Canadian Institute for Child Health, the Council of Chief Medical Officers of Health and Conférence des Régies régionales de la Santé et des services sociaux du Québec.

The Canadian Immunization Awareness Program (CIAP) has three goals. The first goal is to reach national immunization targets by promoting the benefits of immunization for all ages. Initially, the coalition has concentrated on the promotion of on-time childhood immunization. To help meet this challenge, the CIAP established the first Canadian National Immunization Week. During the week of October 25 to November 1, 1998, in concert with hundreds of Canadian municipalities and the provinces and territories, the CIAP launched its first National Immunization Week to draw attention to the importance of parents and health providers working together to make sure children get all the shots they need at the right times.

Other activities in 1998 included a television public service announcement - featuring our celebrity spokespersons, Sharon, Lois and Bram for English Canada and Bibi for French Canada - was produced and aired on the CTV and CBC television networks during the week. Over 10,000 National Immunization Week Kits were sent out and used by daycare centres, community health centres and public health units across the country. A dynamic web site  <www.nald.ca/ciap.htm> was set up, with the highlight of the site being an online children's colouring book telling the story of a young girl who gets her booster shot and feels good about it. Parents can download the colouring book for their children. Health Canada took the lead on producing a video on the benefits of immunization that airs on the Parent Channel in hospitals across Canada where new mothers will have a chance to see it.

CIAP worked closely with its partner, the Canadian Paediatric Society, to rewrite the CPS's pamphlets series on vaccine-preventable diseases in plain language. The pamphlets have been well received throughout the country.

The second goal is to reinforce knowledge levels about immunization issues and their importance. At a time when there are an increasing number of voices raised against immunization, it is important that the coalition attempts to ensure that accurate information is available to everyone, especially parents.

The program is essential to the 10% to 15% of Canadian parents who are undecided about the best ways to protect their children from serious diseases. Factual information about the benefits of immunization, coupled with a dose of reality about the danger that diseases such as measles, pertussis and diphtheria pose to Canadian children, are essential messages that must consistently and systematically be sent to Canadians if we are to maintain high immunization levels in this country.

For Canadians who do not vaccinate their children, CIAP is a critical voice for them to hear alongside the reasons that they may have for not vaccinating their children. Their choice is CIAP's greatest challenge. CIAP intends to become more proactive in response to the various challenges to immunization programs.

The third goal is to support achieving our time target coverage rates of immunization at the national level. In general, the large majority of Canadian parents begin the recommended immunization of their children. However, on-time booster levels are variable and require more attention. CIAP is placing special emphasis on the need for on-time immunization. To facilitate this, CIAP is assisting Canadians by giving information on the local sources of immunization schedules and immunization records for keeping track of their children's immunization.

None of what CIAP has accomplished to date would be possible without the generous support of our sponsors (Pasteur Mérieux Connaught, Merck Frosst Canada Inc, SmithKline Beecham Inc, Biochem Vaccines Inc, and Berna Products Corporation). In addition, the in-kind contributions of members of the coalition have been invaluable.

As CIAP looks to the future, we see a number of upcoming challenges. Not the least of these is the sustainability of the program, together with enlarging the program to cover immunization at all ages. We thank those who have supported CIAP in the past and invite all those involved in achieving the goal of 100% on-time immunization coverage to join with us in the future.

Roy West PhD
Chair - Canadian Immunization Awareness Program
Associate Dean of Community Health
Memorial University of Newfoundland
St John's, Newfoundland

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