Global Health Graduate Student Research Seminar

Presentation Description: Chelsea will present the preliminary findings of a research project that she conducted in Malaysia as a 2015-2016 Fulbright U.S. Student Researcher. Malaysia is an equatorial country in Southeast Asia with year-round seasonal flu burden and a history of human avian influenza cases. In Malaysia, pregnant women are not formally recommended by the Ministry of Health to receive the seasonal flu vaccine despite being one of the WHO highest-priority vaccination groups, and antenatal healthcare providers (HCP) are not provided the vaccine through the public sector. Because HCP recommendation is an important factor in whether or not pregnant women obtain the flu vaccine, we sought to investigate the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of Malaysian antenatal HCP regarding seasonal flu vaccination and the risks of influenza during pregnancy in order to identify the impact of national vaccination recommendations as well as other factors associated with HCP vaccination and recommendation.