The EBODAC project (Ebola Vaccine Deployment, Acceptance and Compliance) is developing strategies and tools to promote the acceptance and uptake of new Ebola vaccines, to help the right person receive the right vaccine at the right time.

EBODAC is important because the successful development and deployment of an Ebola vaccine is faced with many challenges, especially when working in resource limited settings.

The project is supporting clinical trials of Ebola vaccines in Sierra Leone, while simultaneously preparing for the future deployment of a licensed vaccine through a series of linked projects focused on communications, community engagement, and enabling technologies.

Supporting Ebola vaccine trials in Sierra Leone

EBODAC communications and engagement strategies and tools are being used to support Ebola vaccine trials, while building capacity in Sierra Leone to use these resources in the future.

• • • –    Developing and implementing a Community Engagement Strategy to build awareness and trust, and mechanisms to rapidly respond to any concerns or rumours related to the vaccine trials.
    • –    Developing and implementing identification tools to ensure the right volunteer receives the right dose of vaccine at the right time.
    • –    Implementing mobile phone technology to ensure widespread and timely reach in rural settings and that clinical trial participants remain engaged throughout the study and attend clinic visits.

All components of the EBODAC platform are designed and developed to allow rapid and efficient scale-up should there be a need to deploy a licensed vaccine.

Preparing for the future deployment of a licensed vaccine

EBODAC is delivering a series of projects to build local knowledge and capacity and strengthen health systems, in preparation for the potential future use of a licensed Ebola vaccine in several potential deployment scenarios.

• –   Piloting a Mobile Training and Support Service to deliver training to remotely-located Community Health Workers, to increase their preparedness to support future Ebola vaccination campaigns and respond to outbreaks.
• –   Developing an evidence-based Gap Analysis Tool to enable governments to assess their own readiness, from a demand-side perspective, to deploy a licensed Ebola vaccine.

Sharing expertise

The EBODAC consortium is committed to sharing the expertise and lessons learned from using community engagement, communication and technology while conducting clinical trials related to Ebola in an outbreak setting. In February 2017 EBODAC organised a symposium on this theme in Dakar, Senegal, which brought together experts from across Africa and beyond. The learnings from the symposium have contributed to a training resource which is now available as an open-access tool for anybody who is interested in community engagement, communications and enabling technologies for clinical trials in outbreak settings.

• –   Symposium agenda
• –   Symposium report
• –   Training resource – Community Engagement, Communications, and Technology for Clinical Trials in Outbreak Settings

Learn more

Learn more about EBODAC with our short Introduction to EBODAC animation.