KEYWORDS:
Key Words: Inter-agency collaboration, Coordinated Themes, Promotion, Media, Communication.

BACKGROUND:
Background: During April 2000 and 2001, in recognition of Colorado Public Health Week and National Infant Immunization Week, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the Colorado Children’s Immunization Coalition jointly planned and coordinated activities throughout Colorado to highlight the importance of immunizations. During NIIW in 2000, “Mock Pox,” outbreaks throughout the state were kicked off at the state capitol, "hosted" by young children adorned with thumb print sized pink dots representing chicken pox. Our joint theme for 2001 emphasized the successes of the past year, with a birthday party at the state capitol for fully immunized two-year-olds.

OBJECTIVE(S):
Objective: Discuss how the strengths of the organizations led to successful, successive campaigns. Included in the presentation will be the visuals used to demonstrate the percentage of children not immunized against varicella.

METHOD(S):
Method: Share materials created by both lead organizations and a sampling of creative approaches chosen by communities to emphasize their local message within the context of the overall themes.

RESULT(S):
Results: During NIIW in 2000, 61 Mock Pox events were held in communities across Colorado and the campaign contributed to a 22 percent increase in the number of Colorado children who were immunized for varicella from 1998 to 2000. During NIIW in 2001, a coordinated theme was again emphasized in communities across the state, capped off with a picture from the press conference at the state capitol that made the front page of the Denver Post.

CONCLUSIONS(S):
Conclusion: Through this public/private collaboration we were able to produce a more powerful message and reach a broader audience for promoting childhood immunizations.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
Learning Objectives:
1.) Describe the strengths of public private collaboration during two immunization promotional themes in Colorado.
2.) Describe how communities customized their "local messages" within the statewide theme.