On the verge of RSV disease prevention: A communications toolkit
Use these materials to raise awareness about new immunization products to protect infants in early life from a top cause of severe respiratory infections in children.
Note: Please refer to this web page for the most up-to-date version(s) of the communications materials, which are periodically updated to reflect the evolving vaccine landscape.
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the world's top cause of severe respiratory infections and hospitalization in infants and young children. Groundbreaking products for preventing RSV disease in early life have achieved licensure, including a vaccine given in pregnancy and long-acting monoclonal antibodies given to newborns. These tools are a chance to address this under-recognized cause of millions of childhood hospitalizations, thousands of deaths, and significant strain on livelihoods and health systems. Such progress is particularly important for low- and middle-income parts of the world, where nearly all RSV deaths occur. Next steps will be to ensure that these tools achieve global market entry to open the door for widespread use.
A communications toolkit to advance the global RSV conversation
With new products emerging, now is the time to raise awareness and support global, regional, and country decision-making around RSV prevention, policy, and implementation preparedness. To advance these efforts, the World Health Organization, PATH, and other contributors are developing a suite of communications materials that public health stakeholders and advocates can use to share information and raise awareness about RSV disease, new prevention tools, and delivery considerations. These include presentation slides, fact sheets, and other resources.
Feel free to use these materials at your next meeting! All materials are open access and cost-free.
Materials available for use
To accommodate varying audience and engagement needs, this toolkit includes a stand-alone RSV primer presentation (and fact sheet) providing an overview of RSV disease and prevention options.
Also available are modular PowerPoint slides that can be mixed and matched with the primer presentation to dive deeper into key topics for informing understanding and decision-making around RSV prevention.
All slides come with speaker notes.
The latest presentation slides are available here for immediate viewing in read-only format. Editable versions are available upon request.
A two-page summary (PDF) of the content included in the primer PowerPoint presentation.
Additional modules diving deeper into key topics such as regional/local disease burden, surveillance, policy/financing, program implementation, and more.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to an evolving list of contributors providing invaluable expertise to the development of this toolkit, including the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Seattle Children's Hospital / University of Washington; UMC Utrecht; RRD Design LLC; and more.
