TALAKAG, Bukidnon ― Medical front liners here managed to beat the cultural apathy among the lumad on Covid-19 vaccination by employing good, old fashion Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) strategy.
12-year-old “Nicole” holds on to a small bag of potato fritters as she and other Higaonon teenagers sit and waited for their turn to be inoculated at the covered basketball court in barangay Tikalaan here in Talakag town.
The Higaonon teenagers gather with a few of their elders under the covered court to get out from the light rain outside.
Strategically placed around the covered court are several posters promoting Covid-19 vaccination in the Higaonon language.
“I am not afraid,” she said as she waits for her turn to get the shot of the Covid-19 vaccine.
Her older sister, Gloria, said Nicole was the last in their family of six that got vaccinated.
Gloria said their family was hesitant at first about the Covid-19 vaccines but they were persuaded when they saw their Higaonon leaders got inoculated.
“We saw posters of our leaders telling us that vaccination is good for us. We heard they did not get sick. We were persuaded,” Gloria said.
Tarps and posters are posted all around barangays Tikalaan, Indulang, Lantud, and San Rafael where most residents are Higaonon.
“Magpabakuna para luwas sa alan ha miyembro hu pamilya,” reads a “6x10” tarp beside the highway to barangay Tikalaan.
A non-government organization, Peace Crops, is providing all the tarps, posters, and other information materials around the four barangays.
The NGO also provides “komiks” exhorting everyone to be vaccinated for residents to easily understand.
These information materials written in the Higaonon language became valuable tools in curbing vaccine hesitancy among the Higaonons.
Nurse Lourdes Tinoy of the Talakag health officer said vaccination hesitancy was high among the lumad families when the vaccination campaign started a year ago.
“There was a perception that vaccines were against their culture,” Tinoy said.
Tinoy said with the aid of the information materials the vaccination program of the Talakag municipal government succeeded.
She said they have already vaccinated 70 percent of their 72,027 residents as of January 2022.
“It was a slow progress but when the information campaign went full gear, more residents turned up at the vaccination center,” Tinoy said.
Kagawad Edgar Gamat of Barangay Tikalaan, Talakag, Bukidnon said he too was apprehensive after viewing the disinformation on the social media.
Gamat, a Higaonon, said nobody from the ten-member Tikalaan barangay council dared to volunteer to go first.
“We thought we would die if we would be vaccinated,” Gamat said.
Gamat said their perception changed after seeing their barangay health workers get inoculated and survived.
He said the Department of Interior and Local government also ordered the mandatory vaccination for all barangay officials nationwide also added to the change of mind.
“I kept looking at the long needle and just closed my eyes, “ Gamat said.
Gamat and the Tikalaan barangay council are now fully vaccinated. They are just waiting for their booster shots.
Peace Crops president Robert de la Serna said the vaccine information materials they designed were effective because they used the Higaonon language as its language medium and their leaders as role models.
“We found lumad residents were able to relate quickly if they see their leaders promote vaccination. It changes their negative perception of vaccines quickly,” De la Serna said.
Peace Crops was given funding by an international aid agency to design a communication strategy to counter vaccine hesitancy among the lumads.
The NGO was also tasked to implement the communication strategy in barangays Tikalaan, Indulang, Lantud and San Rafael of Talakag where residents were mostly Higaonons.
“We started by conducting a (Focus Group Discussion) among the lumad leaders and barangay officials of these leaders,” De la Cerna said.
De la Cerna said from these meetings, they learned the vaccine hesitancy among the lumads was not rooted in their cultural beliefs but from disinformation, they got by listening to the radio and watching television.
He said young lumads who have internet access were misinformed they learned from social media and “fake news.”
“We decided we have to counter the disinformation and fake news with a good information, education, and communication strategy,” De la Cerna said.
De la Cerna said they also decided to maximize influential Higaonons who could bring the messages of change to the community.
“One good example is the barangay health workers and Higaonon leaders,” he said.
At the covered court in front of the Tikalaan barangay court, a stream of children ages 12 years old and older lined up to be vaccinated by medical front liners.
Eugenio Borreta, a member of the Talakag Inter-Agency Covid Task Force and head of the vaccination team in Tikalaan said they are glad that vaccine hesitancy among the Higaonon residents has downed thanks to the information campaign.
“The families are bringing their children to us unlike before when they were very hesitant,” Borreta said.
He assured that they have enough vaccines to accommodate all the children and those coming in for their second shot or booster shot.
Borreta said they get their supply of vaccine from the Bukidnon provincial health office, which in turn gets it from the Department of Health Region 10 office in Cagayan de Oro. (This story is supported by a grant from Oxfam Pilipinas)
