Amid rapid scientific and technological advance, vaccines for children are attracting renewed attention as a key route to tackling the diseases that affect the poor. If this potential is to be realised, it is not only essential that innovation systems make appropriate vaccines available, but also that delivery systems suit cultural and political realities. This IDS Policy Briefing argues that policymakers and practitioners must pay close attention to local cultural understandings of vaccines, looking at how the dynamics of supply and demand interact in local settings, if they are to improve uptake, design appropriate health promotion approaches, and address so-called ‘anti-vaccination rumours’.
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