Dr Emma Anderson explains how her research is improving vaccine conversations between doctors and parents in Azerbaijan, and how she’s now working with the WHO to create online training to reach health workers across many countries.
Photo caption: Emma Anderson visits the WHO Regional Office in Copenhagen in August to work with the Behavioural and Cultural Insights team. L-r: Katrine Habersaat, Emma Anderson, Siff Nielsen and Martha Scherzer.
When I received the Franklin-Adams award from the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute, my plan was to build on my research in Azerbaijan, where I had been working with the World Health Organization (WHO) to evaluate training for paediatricians in how to communicate effectively with caregivers about childhood vaccination.
The goal was simple but vital: help health workers hold better conversations about vaccines so more children could be protected from preventable diseases.
Why this matters
Across the world, vaccination remains one of the most effective ways to protect children’s health. Many children still miss out due to their parents’ vaccine concerns which are often fuelled by misinformation. Health workers are the most trusted voices, but they rarely receive training to manage these sensitive conversations.
That gap in support motivated my project: to evaluate a WHO-developed vaccine communication training package for Azerbaijani paediatricians, and explore how such training could be embedded sustainably into medical education and professional development.
A shift in focus
Soon after I was awarded the grant, the political landscape shifted. With the US withdrawal from WHO at the start of the year, it became difficult to continue my work in Azerbaijan. Travel back into the country was not possible, and plans to build on the training were paused.
I had a decision to make: how could I best use this award to continue contributing to children’s health in low- and middle-income countries?
I chose a two-part approach:
- Completing the Azerbaijan evaluation: Using the award to protect my time, I am writing the full evaluation report, with the aim of publishing it and creating a recorded presentation of the findings for wide dissemination.
- Pivoting to WHO’s Behavioural and Cultural Insights (BCI) Unit: Based at the regional office in Copenhagen, the BCI team is developing an online course to share behavioural insights with health professionals across Europe and beyond. I was invited to contribute to two key modules: one on health worker–patient communication (using vaccine conversations as a case study), and another on building trust with underserved communities, drawing on my patient and public involvement work with Bristol mothers from diverse ethnic backgrounds.
Who is involved
This has been a collaborative endeavour. The project has been supported by the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute through the Franklin-Adams award. I have been fortunate to work with Dr Katrina Habersaat, who leads the BCI Unit at WHO, and Dr Lena Andersen from the University of Copenhagen on the online training course.
On the paediatric training evaluation, I continue to collaborate with Brett Craig from the Vaccine-Preventable Diseases and Immunization (VPI) unit at WHO together with Azerbaijani counerparts, Sevinj Hasanova and Shahnaz Hasanova.
Together, these collaborations are helping us find new ways to make behavioural insights practical, accessible, and impactful for health workers.
What the research is doing
In Azerbaijan, my role has been to evaluate training that gave paediatricians new motivational interviewing-based tools for handling difficult vaccine conversations. Using surveys, clinic observations, and interviews with both health workers and parents, we gathered evidence on feasibility, acceptability, and early impact.
The findings are encouraging: paediatricians reported feeling more confident, and observed consultations showed improved communication with caregivers. At the same time, the study is a feasibility evaluation – its purpose is not only to measure effectiveness, but also to inform the design of future, larger-scale training and evaluation work of this kind.
The pivot to the online training course allows me to take these lessons further in a context where resources for international travel are constrained. By creating recorded modules, we can maximise impact by reaching far more people than any single in-person workshop ever could. These resources will be used both in university master’s programmes and in continuing professional development (CPD) for health workers across multiple countries in the WHO European region, including low- and middle-income settings.
What has been achieved so far
- The evaluation report from Azerbaijan is in progress, bringing together feasibility findings and evidence of real impact.
- Key results are being shaped into a format that can be widely shared, which will include a recorded presentation, report and paper submitted for publication.
- I am co-developing materials for the WHO/University of Copenhagen online course, which will be available internationally.
By combining careful evaluation with innovative online training, this project is influencing how health workers are supported to build trust and communicate effectively with families.
What’s next
The next steps are twofold:
- Finalise and publish the Azerbaijan evaluation so that its findings can inform future work, not just in Azerbaijan but in other countries facing similar challenges.
- Contribute key content to the WHO online course, ensuring it reaches health workers and students across Europe and beyond.
The purpose of this work is to serve as a model for how behavioural insights and communication training can be scaled up to improve vaccination uptake and reduce inequities in children’s health.
Contact: Dr Emma C. Anderson, Bristol Medical School
Email: emma.anderson@bristol.ac.uk