Country of Focus: Ecuador

Transformative investments:

Vaccinator Capacity
Strategies to reach
Community involvement

The National Imnunization Program in Ecuador is still working toward increasing vaccination coverage, reaching every child and increasing demand in many villages and districts. The strategies selected are key to transform the program and achieve GVAP goals.

Many indigenous communities in Ecuador are isolated geographically and marganilized socially and culturally.

It is important to educate and create workforce capacities and skill towards enabling HCWs to understand, become aware and sensitive of these factors so they may tailor health services and other interventions according to communties culture and expectations. Health workers need hard and soft skills to improve delivery, increase demand to achieve program goals.

On the other hand, indigenous communities are hesitant, have voiced their lack of trust in health workers and western medicine.It is important to engage with these communities in order to educate, build cultural appropriate communication and linkages in order to increase community demand for health services, using strategies that are centers on the communities beliefs and values to increase comunities acceptance.

New strategies to provide access to vaccines in these indigenous communities are needed. These strategies and systems are key to improve access, and ensure that the program is reaching all children, tracking and reminding parents about timely vaccinations, tailor services to better serve the communities.

These transformative strategies are needed and if implemented will improve the health not only in the targeted indigenous communities but also in the entire population in Ecuador.