uganda nurses midwives union west nile

UNMU-WEST NILE PEER-TO-PEER VACCINE ADVOCACY PROJECT

The West Nile Branch of the Uganda Nurses & Midwives Union project trains Nursing students from the Arua School of Comprehensive Nursing and Midwifery and young people in the community, as advocates, to encourage their peers (10-17 years) who have not yet been vaccinated due to lack of knowledge, rumours, or other reasons, to take the vaccine.

Through the Africa Action Network for Nurses and Midwives, the project is being conducted in three secondary schools in Arua city. The training tools and approach used in this pilot site have been adapted from those developed by the Kampala International University School of Nursing (KIUSON).  The project trains Nursing students and young people as advocates to encourage their peers (10 – 17 years-of-age) who have not yet been vaccinated due to lack of knowledge, rumours, or other reasons, to take the vaccine.

Training of the Nursing student advocates and meetings with city health authorities have been successfully carried out and plans laid to vaccinate 400 students in the first term of 2023.