Community Partnerships: An Investment That Will Deliver Your Message

Background: Disparities in exposure, susceptibility, and access to timely and effective treatment for influenza have been documented within Hispanic and African American populations (NIH, 2008).  Flu vaccination coverage disparities have been constant among adults which are mitigated by rates of chronic health conditions among Hispanic and African American adults.  Community engagement strategies that link the impact of chronic conditions and influennza have been shown to resonate well with minority target audiences.  Such linkages have the potential of being a core motivator for sustainable partnership engagement. 

Program background: Principles of community organizing have proven effective in developing engagement strategies for building sustainable grassroots partnerships. This session will use CDC case studies to show how results-driven alliances are working across community and private sectors to reduce disparities in vaccination coverage among uninsured Hispanic and African American adults.

Evaluation Methods and Results: Lisening sessions, activity monitoring and partner surveys have provided key insights into the buy-in of partners and supported the identification of determinants for a sustainable partnerships to decrease flu vaccination coverage dispartities. 

Conclusions: Communication and community engagement strategies that create a linkage between chronic conditions and flu-related health complications have been effective in broadening partnership reach, results, and sustainability

Implications for research and/or practice: Communications professionals can apply community engagement strategies to moving a message into a community to change behavior and decease health disparities.