Aicha Karimi has been a youth nurse at GGD Amsterdam for almost 15 years. She has worked in various city districts, but now she mainly works in Slotervaart, where she also lives. During corona, the neighborhood mothers of Mother Power asked her for information. That is how she rolled into the information profession.
From corona to snus
“I doubted whether I was the right person to provide information about corona,” says Aicha. “I am a youth nurse, corona is not my subject. But people were scared, had a lot of questions and didn’t know what information to trust. Because I was a familiar face to them, I still talked to them about corona in consultation with my supervisor. I always wanted to be an educator, but I never got around to it. Because of corona I got that chance.”
First she gave information about testing, later about vaccination. “I also became a volunteer at the community center and slowly became a trusted person and key figure. More and more requests came in, it went like wildfire. From corona it went to topics such as sexual development and drugs. I always connected with what was going on in the neighbourhood, which was needed. Of course, I’m not an expert on all those subjects, so I called in someone from Jellinek for the information about snus, nitrous oxide and vaping.”
National vaccination program
She later started talking about the vaccinations for children. She is, after all, a pediatric nurse. “That was possible, because I had built up a relationship of trust. In providing information about the National Immunization Programme, I focus on parents with children in a specific age category: 0-4, 9-year-olds or adolescents. Because it is not convenient to go through the entire program in one meeting. Parents of adolescents have different questions than parents of toddlers. By choosing one age group, we can go deeper into the subject and there is more room for questions.”
Fighting Ignorance
Aicha often hears people say that vaccination is not good. “But they can’t say why it wouldn’t be good. Or they say ‘that disease does not occur in the Netherlands, so I don’t have to have my children vaccinated’. Adolescents hear from friends: ‘it will make you infertile, you can get autism’. Because of peer pressure, they don’t want vaccinations. I then say: I respect that you make that choice, but you must know why you make that choice and on the basis of which facts. I want to fight ignorance and mistrust and contradict misinformation.”
Talking with pictures
The presentation that Aicha gives differs per group. She always uses a lot of pictures and videos. The language can be a barrier, so sometimes she also provides information in Moroccan.
This is how Aicha builds up her presentation: “First I explain what a vaccination actually is. Then I explain that it is so important that the vaccination rate remains high. If more than 90 percent of children are vaccinated, unvaccinated children are also protected and an infection does not become an outbreak. I explain that your unvaccinated child is therefore protected by all the vaccinated. Always with pictures. I show what all diseases look like: mumps, diphtheria, measles. And then comes the video of a boy who got the mumps and is now severely disabled.
I also say that we used to vaccinate against smallpox, but no longer because that disease has been eradicated. So we only vaccinate when necessary. I also always tell that the vaccination rate of children in Morocco is 100%. If your family in Morocco does have their children vaccinated, why would you distrust the Dutch government? And why do you take the mandatory meningococcal vaccination when you go on a pilgrimage to Mecca, but not have your child vaccinated against that disease?”
Role model
Aicha always sets herself as an example in all her contacts with parents: “Look, I have been vaccinated myself, I have four children, they are all vaccinated and we are all very healthy.” With her meetings she reaches about 15 people twice a week. She is sure that the participants will pass the information on to others. She is therefore hopeful that the vaccination rate will eventually increase. But that does take time, it is something that takes a long time.
Aicha finds the most enjoyable part of her work the contact with parents and children. “When parents come to me very familiarly during a meeting and ask me for advice. That I can mean something. And that I can be a role model: if she gets vaccinated, then I will too. Then I feel so grateful that I can help!”
Packed with ideas
Does Aicha want to give the GGD something else? Yes, she is brimming with ideas. “It is great if the GGD uses my knowledge and expertise in determining policy. We have to work from the needs and questions of residents. I have now been asked to join a working group to raise the vaccination rate in children. I think that’s great, I’d like to contribute to that.
For adolescents, I would focus more on social media: they are on their phones all day, so as a GGD you have to be present there too.
And I would focus on providing information in schools, for example in mentor classes. Unfortunately, there are schools that don’t want us to talk about HPV or drugs. Bad for the image of the school. But we are talking about public health here and I think that is really more important.”