On the sidelines of the cholera vaccination campaign organized by the Ministry of Health in December, a U-Report survey was carried out from December 23 to 29, 2022 on cholera vaccination. The survey sample was made up of 4,750 girls (45%) and boys (55%) whose ages ranged between 15-19 years (22%), 20-24 years (39%) and 25-30 years (24 %).

"The vaccination survey should serve as a basis for raising awareness among the population to get vaccinated to protect themselves against cholera because there are a lot of rumors and reluctance to get vaccinated. We need to explain to people the why and the benefits of vaccination. said Jean Félix Jean, a 20-year-old U-Reporter who lives in the La Saline neighborhood in Port-au-Prince.

Although 95% of survey respondents say cholera is dangerous, 54% of young people are unwilling to get vaccinated because the largest number of them (40%) are worried about the side effects of the vaccine, others do not trust the healthcare system (20%) or even do not think that the vaccine works (12%).

In addition to the survey, an automated "chat bot" information center is available free of charge to obtain more information on cholera by texting the word "KOLERA" at 8090. It is anonymous and confidential which allows inform much more about the disease, particularly about the modes of transmission and the precautions to be taken. Since its launch a few weeks ago, the chat bot has registered more than 82,281 consultations.

For Santia Leger (20 years old), student in legal sciences in the department of Grand'Anse and also U-Reporter "the answers to the surveys constitute alarm bells for the health authorities so that they take important decisions such as the care and services to prevent more people from getting cholera. These results are important because they allow the authorities to know the level of need of the population to stop cholera."

Learn more about U-Report :

UNICEF created U-Report in 2011, a free system that operates by SMS and on social networks (Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, etc.) made available to young Haitians to allow them to express themselves on the issues that relate to their community. Haiti has joined U-Report since 2019.

To learn more and know the results of the surveys visit: https://haiti.ureport.in/about/

To register as a U-Reporter :

Send AYITI in the U-Report Haiti Facebook messenger or by SMS to 8090 (Natcom or Digicel)

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-38493-haiti-cholera-daily-bulletin-80.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-28246-icihaiti-unicef-become-u-reporter.html

HL/ HaitiLibre