Sanofi unveils only community-based vaccines grants program

Pharma News: Ahead of World Immunisation Week (24-30 April), Sanofi Australia is offering five $10,000 grants for not-for-profit organisations looking to improve public health information through community initiatives. This grants program is the only one of its kind in Australia to offer industry funding specifically for community-level, vaccine-focussed health education initiatives.

This year, the expert judging panel which is led by Sanofi Australia & New Zealand Country Medical Lead, Dr Iris Depaz, will be looking for initiatives that can have a positive impact on vaccine education and uptake in the local community.

“Health information at the grass-roots level is important to improving public health. This is only the second year of the grants program and we’re already seeing positive results in hard-to-reach communities. Sanofi looks forward to helping bring to life much-needed and innovative ideas to support vaccination-focused health efforts,” Dr Depaz said.

Last year, the grant helped the City of Whittlesea in Victoria reprint a children’s book A Yarn About Germs.

“This has allowed an additional group of local children, and their families, to learn about the importance of immunisation in a culturally-appropriate manner,” Craig Lloyd, CEO of the City of Whittlesea in Victoria, said.

Other organisations across Australia also benefited from last year’s grants to raise awareness about the importance of vaccinations.

Diabetes Australia ran a campaign to raise awareness about the year-round benefit of the influenza vaccine for people with diabetes. Diabetes Victoria produced a Frequently Asked Questions video on vaccination recommendations. The Immunisation Foundation of Australia developed a campaign featuring the stories of people impacted by vaccine-preventable diseases.

Additionally, the Indonesian Diaspora Network designed a health education program to raise awareness of vaccinations in the Australian Indonesian community while Lung Foundation Australia developed an immunisation campaign for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the Water Well Project was able to deliver free, interactive and inclusive health education sessions about vaccines for communities from migrant, refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds.

Through these initiatives, organisations across Australia are working to ensure that diverse communities with individual needs understand the importance of vaccinations and are able to access accurate and up-to-date information.