Opportunity: In 2021 and 2022, as COVID-19 vaccinations ramped up across the US, the health department in Pima County – which includes Tucson, Arizona and its surrounding areas – noticed that certain subgroups of their county population were much more reluctant to get vaccinated. One specific group with the lowest vaccination rates was pregnant Latinx women between 18-40, and they were also unfortunately considered one of the highest risk groups for COVID-19. Through a health literacy grant from the Office of Minority Health, PCHD partnered with Dalberg Design to use HCD to understand reasons for vaccine hesitance within this specific community, and to partner with them to design new product and service offerings from PCHD that could contribute to improve vaccination rates as well as health literacy more broadly.

Year: 2022

Role: Project lead

Process: The team began by hosting a kickoff workshop with PCHD and their incredible community partners, aiming to better understand everyone’s different needs, goals, and visions. After developing a thorough work plan, we began to organize research with medical practitioners and community members across Pima County, paying each participant for their time and conducting both remote and in-person interviews and group sessions. The findings from this research were synthesized by PCHD, community partners, and community members into a set of opportunities identified that will serve as the basis for creative solutions moving forward.

Outputs: TBD! As of October 2022, this project is still ongoing. However, some of the identified opportunities are shown below.