Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Community Champions increasing vaccine uptake in Leeds
Evaluating the Leeds Community Vaccine Champion programme shows us that effective public health interventions don’t need to be high-tech. They don’t need to be grand. And they don’t need to involve media-making stunts. But what they do need is committed people, working together to tackle a shared goal. Such is the case with the Leeds Community Vaccine Champion programme.
Leeds City Council Public Health, Voluntary Action Leeds and Forum Central worked diligently together as a partnership. They set up structures to support and train local people and organisations, who volunteered their time to improve the health of their community. Champions had in-depth conversations with diverse communities across Leeds – giving out important information about vaccines, listening to people’s concerns, tackling misinformation and helping people access primary care. What mattered most was taking the time to listen, to build relationships and trust.
- 53 Community Champions trained
- 21 small grants given out
- 72 community events run or attended
- Over 1000 people reached
And the results? Better knowledge, awareness and confidence in NHS vaccines, communities questioning misinformation and intending to get themselves or their children vaccinated. And services more in-touch with what different communities needed.
Programmes like this might not be high-tech, but they should be making headlines!
Read the full report - https://eprints.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/id/eprint/13073/
View animation - https://eprints.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/id/eprint/13074/
Dr Jenny Woodward
Jenny is a Research Fellow in the Centre for Health Promotion Research interested in exploring the links between green spaces, volunteering / civic activism and health and wellbeing. Her work centres on tackling health inequalities via community-based interventions. She is an experienced qualitative researcher and evaluator.
Dr Kris Southby
Kris is a Senior Research Fellow and Assistant Director in the Centre for Health Promotion Research. Interested in community-centred approaches to health, the health and wellbeing of adults with learning disabilities, and participatory research methods.
