World: Using WHO's Global Routine Immunization Strategies and Practices (GRISP) to achieve better immunization outcomes

Context for this course

The purpose of the new Global Routine Immunization Strategies and Practices (GRISP) guidelines is to reassert routine immunization as the foundation for sustained decreases in morbidity and mortality from vaccine-preventable diseases across the life-cycle of all individuals. Its focus is on the GRISP transformative investments, i.e. on areas of intervention that will change an entire immunization programme when implemented.

Once challenges and barriers to the programme have been identified and the appropriate strategies to address these challenges have been found, activities have to be concretely planned within the operational annual EPI plan. This course will take course participants through the process of identifying the challenges, finding the right transformative investment and strategies, and incorporating these into the annual EPI plan for implementation.

Added value of this course

1. The course provides accelerated learning on the use of the latest WHO guidelines on routine immunization.
2. The course activities will be directly applicable to the development of an annual EPI plan.
3. Participants will work both in small groups (peer review) and as a community to compare and share best practices in immunization planning with fellow practitioners from all over the world and global experts from WHO.
4. WHO will issue a certificate of participation to those who successfully complete all of the requirements of the course (draft and revised case study, three peer reviews, and participation in both online community dialogue and weekly live sessions).

Learning objectives

1. Relate the recommendations and approach of the GRISP guidelines to your specific context.
2. Define the problem and prioritize recommendations to select a suggested action that could have the greatest impact on the current state in your country.
3. Identify best practices in the suggested action through literature review and dialogue with your peers.
4. Select transformative investments and areas of action that are likely to transform your national immunization programme and the work of global partners.
5. Adapt innovative ways to implement transformative investments in your country context.
6. Describe how to take transformative investments from strategy to implementation.
7. Compare and share best practices with practitioners from all over the world, drawing on global expertise from WHO.

What will you do in this course

1. Complete successive writing assignments to develop a set of transformative investment activities for inclusion in immunization planning.
2. Peer review the drafts of other participants to learn from and provide constructive inputs.
3. Revise your draft activities, drawing on what you learned from peer review, resources and ongoing dialogue in the course.
4. Contribute at least once a week to community dialogue and live online sessions.

Prerequisites and requirements

Applicants are responsible for ensuring that they are able to meet the following requirements:

• Information technology: Participants will need to have access to a reliable Internet connection and a browser less than five years old (Internet Explorer 9+, Safari 5+, or Chrome). You will need to access the course web site on a regular basis.
• GRISP guidelines: Participants should download and familiarize themselves with these guidelines.
• Experience and expertise: As an immunization professional, you should be familiar with both global guidance and recommendations, including the Global Vaccine Action Plan 2011–2020 (GVAP) and your specific context (Region, Sub-Region or Country).
• Access to EPI data: For the country(ies) you support, you will be expected to have access to routine administrative coverage data, vaccine usage data, assessment reports for programme reviews, specialized assessments such as PIEs (Post-Introduction Evaluation), EVMs (Effective Vaccine Management) assessments and HW KAPs (Health Worker Knowledge Attitudes and Practices).
• Languages: The working language will be English. Participants are encouraged to allot extra time if they are not fully proficient writing in English.

Schedule and workload

Participants should expect to:

• dedicate at least 3-5 hours per week to course work during 6 weeks (at least 30-45 minutes per working day)
• participate remotely in the weekly, one-hour live session that will take place online every Thursday at 16h00 Geneva (UTC+2). Recordings of these sessions will be made available for those who are unable to attend for legitimate reasons.

All of the course tasks must be completed by a specific deadline, but each participant may schedule these at their leisure (except for the weekly live online session which is at a fixed day and time each week). We will launch with a live session on Thursday 9^th June 2016 at 16h00 Geneva (UTC+2) that will require 60 minutes to kick off the course and provide an introduction. All other weekly live discussion sessions will be held as online class meetings on Thursdays (16, 23, and 30 June; 7 and 14 July) and start at 16h00 Geneva (UTC+2).

Certification

WHO will issue a certificate of participation to those who successfully complete all of the requirements of the course (draft and revised case study, three peer reviews, and participation in both community dialogue and weekly classroom sessions).

Confidentiality

During the peer review process, reviewers will not see the names or profiles of the authors and vice versa. Once you have revised your paper and submitted the final version, it will then appear on your personal profile, visible to other members of the GRISP pilot online course community only. WHO will review the papers and may consider some of them for use in the Organization’s communication, advocacy and training efforts. If this is the case, WHO will contact you to request your agreement and, if needed, to address any sensitive issues related to its content.

Research and evaluation

Course participants may be invited to participate in research to evaluate the learning efficacy of this pilot. Participation in this research is completely voluntary, and you may stop taking part at any time. In cases where participants do not consent to data collection, the research and evaluation team will collect no data. Participation/non-participation will have no effect on assessment of your performance in the course or your present or future relationship with WHO.

Questions or additional information

Please send any enquiries about this course to grisp@lsi.io.

The World Health Organization (WHO) invites applications for a pilot online course open to all health practitioners involved with immunization planning at national and sub-national levels.

This online course starts 6 June and finishes 15 July 2016 (4–6 hours per week over 6 weeks)

Deadline for application: 29 May 2016

Apply online via this link: http://lsi.io/who-grisp-enroll

(You will receive an e-mail confirmation)

Successful applicants will be notified by 3 June 2016 (via e-mail)*

* Please check your Spam or Junk mail folders and ensure that messages are white listed, as they contain important information. If you do not receive the confirmation e-mail, please write to grisp@lsi.io.

Who should apply

We encourage National and sub-national EPI management staff, WHO/UNICEF country and regional staff, in-country partner organization staff and consultants supporting national immunization planning processes to apply.