Factors Related To, And Effective Interventions For Vaccination Uptake Among Older Adults In Asia-Pacific: A Rapid Review
2022 - 2023
Leads: Dr Tong Wen Ting & Ananta Seth
Immunisation is a global health and development success story, saving 2-3 million lives each year. Life-course immunisation is particularly important in Asia Pacific as its population ages at an unprecedented pace, with the number of older persons (aged 65 and older) expected to more than double, from 535 million in 2015 to about 1.3 billion in 2050 (United Nations, 2017).
Despite the widespread benefits of vaccines for older adults, immunisation uptake rates remain low across Asia Pacific.
This study aims to synthesise a current overview of the known factors related to effective interventions at promoting vaccination uptake by older adults in Asia-Pacific. Interventions identified are classified according to the nine categories defined by the Expert Recommendations for Implementing Change (ERIC) project.
The findings of this review will help to identify missed opportunities and promote vaccination uptake among older adults as part of building strengthened and sustainable health systems in Asia-Pacific communities.
This work is done in collaboration with APIC and Research for Impact.
Parts of this work have been presented at the 54th Asia Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health Conference 2023, Sawarak, Malaysia conference.
Tong, W. T., Seth, A., Ng, M.P.E., Tong S.C., Lau, A., Chen, T.Y., Ong, S. E., & Yoong, J. (2024). Factors related to, and effective interventions for, vaccination uptake among older adults in two Asia-Pacific countries: A rapid review. Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/10105395241258530
Behavioural and Implementation Science Research in Asia’s healthcare landscape: A Scoping Review
2022 - Present
Leads: Dr Tong Wen Ting & Mary Ng
In Asia, the large diversity in cultures, traditions and belief systems presents complex challenges and unique opportunities to implementation work which may benefit from the utilisation of evidence-based programmes shaped by theories, models or frameworks (TMFs) to maximise successful outcomes.
However, most of the implementation science literature comes from North America, specifically the USA, with a smaller volume of research originating from Western European countries. In addition, much understanding of context (including sectoral, disciplinary, cognitive, geographical, epidemiological, socio-cultural, socio-economic, ethical, legal, political) influencing implementation is derived from those literature. This understanding is currently lacking in Asian implementation research, and little is also known about Asia’s evidence and theory-based programming landscape.
This scoping review aims to start addressing the gap by providing a synthesis of the available literature on behavioural and implementation science studies in Asia. Some objectives of this review are to identify what implementation science TMFs have been used in Asian healthcare contexts, to assess how context was defined and explore implementation strategies utilized and what implementation outcomes have been assessed.
Parts of this work have been presented at the European Implementation Event (EIE) 2023, Basel, Switzerland, and Evidence & Implementation Summit 2023, Melbourne, Australia conferences.