Manaal Relief Foundation is providing  support as part of our efforts to help ensure everyone or “all” have equitable access to accurate information about the vaccines and to the vaccines themselves, especially rural communities/ Last mile communities, Minority and Marginalised communities,  and Internally Displaced People (IDPs), which have been disproportionately affected by the health and economic impacts of the virus.

Vaccine clinic organizers also report that vulnerable people in our underserved communities, many of them are uninsured, are unaware that the vaccine is free for everyone, and have expressed concern about its cost.

These communities face to significant inequities in accessing COVID-19 Vaccines. These are communities that live at the outskirts of cities in IDP camps and rural areas, often secluded and neglected. Access is the one of the main challenges facing the target groups. Vaccines are administered at health facilities which are far from communities that need it the most. Due to limited transportation options, lack of outreach vaccine, fear of side effects, lack of awareness, lack of culturally relevant information, lack of flexibility in the service and childcare demands, and/or language and literacy challenges. Vaccine hesitancy and the spread of misinformation about vaccines has also been a persistent challenge for many years and has been amplified in recent years

Our Vaccine support program targets directly the rural communities and internally displaced people- IDPs in Garowe which face a range of potential access-related barriers to obtaining a COVID-19 vaccination. These remote/isolated communities may require specific supports/information that reflects their unique realities.

The initiative intends to work with trusted community groups, schools, shelters, front-line service clinics; vaccine advocacy centers to create language and culturally specific vaccine education and engaging in outreach, facilitate mobile and pop-up vaccine clinics and provide transportation to vaccination sites for vulnerable communities disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 and have been comparatively under-vaccinated. This initiative will also conduct outreach via text messages through set-up mobile radio, social Medias, public announcement through the strategic location within community i.e., mosque, market, village elder, schools, etc. Local TVs/Radios and emails to vulnerable underserved communities to address hesitancy and encourage vaccinations. Through this support; we build the capacity of health care providers (HCPs) as vaccinators and vaccination promoters: by ensuring HCPs have the tools, training and evidence-based information they need to promote and counsel individuals on the importance of COVID 19 vaccines and other vaccines.  

Manaal Relief Foundation through this program provides support to underserved communities through:

• Build capacity of health care providers (HCPs) as vaccinators and vaccination promoters: by ensuring HCPs have the tools, training and evidence-based information they need to promote and counsel individuals on the importance of COVID 19 vaccines and other vaccines. This includes development resources for HCPs and informational products for their patients on vaccine ingredients, vaccine safety and efficacy, descriptions of priority populations and reasons for them. Perhaps mobile HCP to directly reach out to community members for mobilisation.
• Community-based COVID-19 education, promotion and outreach: by enhancing community-based and front-line service capacity to improve demand for and access to COVID-19 vaccines and other vaccines. This includes developing or tailoring evidence-based vaccination communication and public engagement strategies for Somalia with a particular emphasis on underserved or marginalized populations to foster evidence-based dialogue around vaccines and improve knowledge about the importance of vaccination, build confidence in vaccines, and addressing barriers to accessing vaccination services. This includes developing information tools, publications, influential people in the community to champion the initiative, radio – PSA, and media briefings intended to increase vaccine confidence.