“Controlling pneumococcal disease through awareness, surveillance, advocacy and prevention”
Situation
The disease burden of pneumococcal disease (PD) in the region is high, but awareness amongst healthcare providers (HCPs) and policymakers in Asia was lacking. This lack of awareness could hinder the use of PD vaccination by HCPs and delay the uptake of PD vaccination into national immunization programmes.
Key initiatives
The Asian Strategic Alliance for Pneumococcal disease prevention (ASAP), consisting of more than 20 leaders in PD prevention was formed to address the challenges of PD in Asia.
The ASAP collaborated with public health and paediatric groups to achieve its mission of containing and controlling PD in the Asian region through awareness, surveillance, advocacy and prevention, and served as a regional panel of experts to develop educational material for HCPs.
The following outcomes were achieved:
- Regular (twice yearly) ASAP Advisory Board meetings to help plan activities in-line with ASAP strategies and to meet the group’s goals.
- Symposia presentations, posters and abstracts at key regional vaccine, pediatric and infectious diseases congresses (e.g. Asian Congress of Pediatric Infectious Diseases [ACPID], International Vaccine Institute [IVI}).
- Standalone meetings to engage with HCPs and policy makers on relevant topics relating to burden, prevention and health economics.
- Collation and production of PD educational materials for HCPs in Asia.
- Publication in a peer-reviewed journal to highlight PD burden in Asia.
- Launch of country-specific ASAP chapters to help continue the ASAP mission at a country level.