Policy Dialog: the Missing Link in the 2008 Romanian Human Papillomavirus (Hpv) Vaccination Program

Abstract

The model of the traditional decision – making deciding behind the closed doors ofpower is strongly eroded by the new perceptionof democracy, as it is gradually replaced by amodel dominated not by managers, but by themanagement of decision. This article analyzesfrom the social sciences perspective a) why theRomanian 2008 HPV vaccination campaign turnedout to be a failure, b) what generated the strongpublic rejection of a policy that the Ministry of PublicHealth supposed would be easily accepted by thepopulation, and especially by the targeted group– the 10-11 years old girls and their parents. Thearticle also seeks to offer recommendations, fromthe public communication perspective, regardinghow policy dialogue and public participation mightsupport the promotion of large-scale policies byinvolving the stakeholders at all stages of thedecision-making process, and hence, avoidingunfounded social tensions and waste of valuableresources.