Appropriate methods for impactful advice
Defintion of use cases - the Seven Ws approach
MMGH supports clients’ efforts to develop the most appropriate vaccines and medical products, deploy them effectively, and enable equitable access. As part of this work, the topic of how those products are used in the field has emerged as one of the most critical for them to achieve maximum health impact.
This emerging awareness has led to interaction and insightful discussions with many colleagues in the global health community. As a result, we have formalised a methodology called the “Seven Ws” that facilitates a structured investigation of how vaccines and medical products are and can be used. Putting the users and their needs at the centre of the processes of designing products, policies, and strategies will greatly help maximise their usability, access and, ultimately, health impact.
We are convinced of the value of knowledge sharing and mutual continuous enrichment of methods; therefore, we decided to adopt an open-source approach, making this methodology fully available to anyone interested in adopting it.
Better defining use cases for new and existing vaccines and drugs
These interactions highlighted the need to clarify how different medical products are used and to put the users’ perspective at the core of decision that concerns product development, policy, and implementation. Leveraging the project work, we have developed this method paper that provides clarity on the definitions used and the steps in defining and applying use cases in the fields of immunisation and Neglected Tropical Diseases.
We hope that this approach will stimulate further discussion and ultimately assist in increasing the user focus in the immunisation and NTD work. With this perspective in mind, we encourage anyone interested in adopting this method and contributing to its further refinement.
