Cay Hill – St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) is inving parents and expecng parents from St. Maarten, Curaçao and Aruba to take part in a new survey on public knowledge, percepons and preferences around vaccinaon and the prevenon of Respiratory Syncyal Virus (RSV) in young children.
The survey is part of the ongoing RSV Roadmap Project, coordinated by SMMC’s Quality Care & Safety Officer Tanya Balani and Medical Staff Bureau Officer Veerle Bok-Baroud together with Project Coordinator Claire Fransman on Aruba and Project Coordinator Sabrina Varsovia on Curaçao, in collaboraon with the Dutch Radboud University Medical Center and other regional and internaonal healthcare stakeholders.
The project builds on the CARE-SAFE study and connects scienfic evidence, local epidemiological data, healthcare-system consideraons and community perspecves to help the islands decide how future RSV prevenon strategies could best be introduced within their respecve healthcare systems.
RSV is a common respiratory virus that can cause serious illness, parcularly among infants and young children. New prevenon opons are increasingly available, including vaccinaon during pregnancy and prevenve anbodies that can be given to infants directly aer birth. Before decisions are made about how these strategies could be introduced locally, the project team believes it’s essenal that parents’ views are heard.
The survey can be filled out by individuals who meet these criteria:
• Expecng parents
• Parents of children between 0 and 5 years of age
• Adults aged 18 years and older
• Residents of St. Maarten, Curaçao and Aruba
Parcipants will be asked about their awareness of RSV, their views on childhood and maternal vaccinaon, and their preferences regarding different approaches to protecng infants against RSV.
“Decisions about prevenon strategies and implementaon should not be based only on scienfic evidence and healthcare logiscs. We also need to understand what parents know,what concerns they may have, and what they feel is best for themselves and their children,” said Veerle Bok-Baroud, Medical Staff Bureau Officer.
“The parents’ input is an important part of developing a prevenon strategy that is both effecve and appropriate for our islands. That is why we created this survey: to give parents a meaningful opportunity to share their perspecves and help shape a strategy that reflects the needs of our communies,” said Tanya Balani, Quality Care & Safety Officer.
The anonymous results will feed into a decision and implementaon roadmap for RSV prevenon and will be weighed alongside scienfic evidence, local disease paterns, healthcare capacity, costs and praccal consideraons on each island.
The project team is calling on parents and expecng parents throughout St. Maarten, Curaçao and Aruba to complete the survey and share it with others who may be eligible. It takes only a few minutes to complete and is completely anonymous.
Complete the survey here by picking your language (or use the QR code on the flyer): htps://linktr.ee/rsvprevenoncas
