Sahabat Vaksin is a mobile application that aims to provide public information to support willingness and timeliness in vaccinations in the community, while helping health workers and people of influence in the community increase their competence and confidence in countering anti vaccine narratives. This idea is aimed to counter the impact of the spread of anti vaccination narratives that has been exarcebated by high use of social media and low media literacy rates. Indonesia in particular is prone to this issue, with a high rate of community members spreading and believing in “hoaxes” and low media literacy rates, with vaccine rejections based on religious misconceptions/perceptions being a key factor.
Sahabat Vaksin works by engaging 3 main stakeholders (i) it equips midwives with adaptive counter messages (driven by machine learning) to help clarify misconceptions in anti-vaccination arguments, focusing on both health based as well as religious based counter arguments, (ii) it gives mothers customized, timely messages based on pregnancy stage or child age and perception towards vaccination through USSD messaging and multiple social media channels, and (iii) it engages local religious leaders and actors to develop and spread their narrative in supporting timely vaccination, including equipping them with appropriate medical and technical knowledge.
The project currently just finished its first major prototype and will be tested in at least 3 major municipalities in Indonesia throughout 2019.

http://sahabatvaksin.org/

• Indonesia

• Youth
• Women
• Adult
• Children between 5 and 12
• Children under 5
• New born
• Pregnant women
• Infants and children

This project is replicable as it does not require physical resources and only requires internet access for the user to find the information needed. Further, it is also replicable and customizable for different areas as the general framework can be used for different languages or specific local content

Sahabat Vaksin has a high degree of sustainability as it does not require a large upkeep effort, both financially and operationally. The system is self sustaining in terms of operations, and only require sufficient server capacity provided. In terms of currency of information, this will depend on the primary stakeholder giving the information. However, most of the basic information on vaccines should always be available from the system, with updates mostly required if there are new developments or issues regarding vaccines in the public

The project support WSIS values by utilizing ICT in helping ensure equal access to information regarding vaccines and health to the community to improve community health and resilience through vaccination, and reducing the misuse of ICT to spread false information. While we promote vaccination, we also aim to upheld tolerance in terms of respecting different perspectives and presenting as objective information as possible.