Immunize Kansas Coalition Unveils Two New Resource Tookits

Less than 64 percent of Kansas adolescents are covered by meningococcal vaccination. Meningococcal disease is caused by bacteria that can cause infections in the bloodstream or infections in the brain and spinal cord. Meningococcal disease is severe and can kill a person within 24 hours after the appearance of the first symptoms. One in every ten cases of meningococcal disease is fatal, and two in the surviving nine will suffer from lifelong disabilities.

In response to Kansas having some of the lowest adolescent vaccine rates in the country, the Immunize Kansas Coalition (IKC) made increasing adolescent vaccine rates a priority, specifically HPV and meningococcal vaccine rates. The IKC has set goals of increasing the adolescent meningococcal conjugate vaccine rate (Men A,C,W,Y rate) from 64% to 80% by 2020. To help achieve these goals, the IKC released a Call to Change, which encourages health providers, parents, and community members to work together on increasing vaccination to protect our kids against meningococcal disease.

The Call to Change is the lead document in IKC's Meningococcal Vaccine Toolkit. The toolkit compiles some of the best resources in Kansas and across the country for helping providers increase their vaccination rates. The toolkit's release was unveiled by IKC Chair Hope Krebill at the Kansas Immunization Conference last week.

Continuing to promote HPV vaccinations, IKC launched Community HPV Education Events toolkit. This toolkit provides resources for communities who are looking to host their own event to increase HPV awareness and spur action to improving HPV vaccination rates. The key tool for hosting these events is the "Someone You Love" video. It is a documentary sharing the stories of five women who are fighting against cervical cancer, which is generally caused by HPV.

Mary Beth Warren, IKC Member and Executive Director of University of Kansas Area Health Education Centers explains, "Each community has a unique story to tell, one which we can all learn from. Their enthusiasm and belief in the need for education is very motivating. We also want to celebrate these communities and individuals as leaders in our statewide initiative to improve our HPV vaccination rates."

Hope Krebill is Chair of the Immunize Kansas Coalition, a group of providers, health department officials, researchers, and educators working together to improve vaccine rates in Kansas.

The Call to Change document, Meningococcal Vaccine Toolkit, Community HPV Education Events Toolkit, and many other resources are available at www.immunizekansascoalition.org. Also, don't forget to like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ImmunizeKansasCoalition.

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