 The Drum Beat – 661 – Recent Polio Communication Action and Strategy |
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| SOCIAL MOBILISATION FOR POLIO ERADICATION: SELECT EXAMPLES |
| 1. Communication and Social Mobilisation for a Nationwide (Lebanese) Polio Vaccination Campaign 2013 |
| Amidst concerns of the polio outbreak in Syria, in November 2013, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) launched a mass vaccination campaign under the name «from door to door» designed to reach approximately 600,000 children, including Syrian refugees and Lebanese and Palestinian children aged 0-5 years. Coinciding with this launch, UNICEF embarked upon a large communication and social mobilisation drive that involved hundreds of thousands of leaflets, posters, a radio spot, and a cartoon TV spot designed to aid social mobilisation teams in raising awareness of the critical importance of vaccinating children against polio. |
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| 2. Y4PE (Youth for Polio Eradication) |
| Y4PE draws on the potential power of India’s youth to advocate polio eradication and routine immunisation (RI), especially amongst those in vulnerable and hard-to-reach communities. Strategies have ranged from engaging with in-school adolescents (through extra co-curricular activities such as art-expression contests, debate, elocution, and theatre competitions, all aimed at providing the students with basic knowledge of polio and its related risk factors) through to linking up (via video news reels) with youth icons in the country, such as famous musical bands, well-known athletes/players, film/drama/theatre personalities, and even lesser-known young faces based in communities doing outstanding work in the social sector. |
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| 3. Polio Eradication and Immunisation: Mobilising and Engaging Communities through Radio Game Shows |
| From June 10-15 2013, approximately 40 producers and radio broadcasters covering 40 health districts in Chad received training on the design and production of public radio games and programming. The objective of the workshop was to strengthen capacity to produce radio programmes, directly engaging communities and educating them on the importance of vaccination. The session was preceded by a training-of-trainers held in N’Djamena. |
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4. Evidence Based Communication for Health Promotion: Indian Lessons of Last Decade
by K Suresh |
| One section of this paper explores social mobilisation for polio eradication. UNICEF India started post-Pulse Polio Immunization (PPI) assessment of non-acceptors via survey distributed to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and medical college faculty. The feedback revealed a need to involve community volunteers for raising awareness of the need and urgency of taking PPI drops every time, interpersonal communication of the reluctant/refusing families, and efforts to involve various community leaders and empower them to mobilise people. Changes were then made in Moradbad (Uttar Pradesh) and neighbouring districts. «Over the years hundreds of such block and distinct level social mobilizers have become the key workforce for successful implementation of IPPI [Intensified PPI].» [Jan 2012] |
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| EXPLORING & ADDRESSING ROADBLOCKS IN CHALLENGING CONTEXTS |
5. The Final Push for Polio Eradication: Addressing the Challenge of Violence in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria
by Seye Abimbola, Asmat Ullah Malik, and Ghulam Farooq Mansoor |
| «Polio eradication will only be achieved with stronger health systems and bottom-up community engagement…» As researchers working in the remaining 3 polio-endemic countries, which all have large Muslim populations, the authors of this piece acknowledge that increasing militancy, political unrest, lack of trust, and deteriorating security conditions are common denominators that threaten polio eradication efforts. While they argue here that the battle to eradicate polio will only be won with policies that are informed by a detailed understanding of these contexts, they make some general recommendations, which include: making polio eradication part of RI, ensuring that locals see polio eradication as a social problem and take ownership, continuing immunisation but without all the fanfare, working directly with community members and leaders, and building trust by keeping a low profile on international deadlines. [Oct 2013] |
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| 6. Kicking Polio out of Afghanistan |
| From blogger Umaru Pate: «My short visit to Afghanistan in October 2013 as part of the Polio Communication Review Team has convinced me that like in my country, Nigeria, there is a determined national effort to kick out polio in the shortest possible time in the country….It is very reassuring that the program has maintained neutrality by purely focusing on the health of the child irrespective of location or the political persuasion of individual parents. Everyone from the state officials to community elders and religious leaders have admitted to the neutrality factor as being hugely helpful in upholding the credibility of the vaccination program and facilitating the access and guaranteeing the safety of the vaccination teams, particularly in the volatile parts of the country where the opposition is active. Creative strategies and the use of access negotiators have helped vaccination teams to access households in the highly volatile or insecure areas…» [Feb 2014] |
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| 7. Engaging the Last 1% in Pakistan – Communication Strategies to Ensure: Access, Security, Trust |
| As explained here, in the past, communication for polio eradication in Pakistan involved: high intensity, high visibility, campaign-focused public information/mass media campaigns; social mobilisation efforts with door-to-door focus; and a polio-focused media and mass media strategy. However, in 2013, the strategy changed due to the observation that, of the 2013 wildpolio virus (WPV) cases, 89% of those were in Pashtun children, and 90% were from 4 Pashtun tribes. «We are consistently missing – or unable to reach – these tribal children with OPV.» Approaches have involved creating incentives for all actors to participate and «win» by eradicating polio, engaging parliamentarians from all parties, and identifying civil society activist champions to condemn attacks on polio workers, profile these workers as «protectors of children», and build trust/demand for polio and RI. [Nov 2013] |
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| LESSONS FROM MEETING REPORTS & STRATEGY GOING FORWARD |
| 8. Summary Report on the Consultation with Islamic Scholars on Polio Eradication |
| This report emerges from an Islamabad, Pakistan, meeting intended to give religious scholars at the national level (in the 3 remaining polio-endemic countries) the opportunity to brainstorm on strategies for a polio-free Islamic world by the end of 2014. As stated here, the media coverage was generally supportive of the meeting taking place and of the Ulema (educated class of Muslim legal scholars) playing a more active and proactive role in polio eradication. The content of the declaration (included within the final portion of the document) was reported extensively. In particular, it was reported that religious scholars and leaders will now be taking a more proactive role in addressing misconceptions about the vaccine and the programme, as well as in raising awareness and disseminating information. [Jun 2013] |
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| 9. Report on the Meeting of the Technical Advisory Group on Poliomyelitis Eradication in Pakistan |
| «Local ownership for vaccination is now more critical than ever.» This is one finding shared in a report from the Pakistan Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on Poliomyelitis Eradication, which met in Islamabad from November 27-28 2013. «With over 80% of polio cases originating from only four Pashtun tribes, the communications effort in 2014 must focus more intensively on building trust for immunization services among these highest risk groups. The programme must ensure adequate representation of these groups in as vaccinators, social mobilizers and community influencers, and in mass media messaging.» Specific recommendations are outlined in the report. One focus area involves engaging communities and building demand. |
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| 10. Afghanistan Polio Communication Review – October 22 to 29 2013 |
| This report from an Afghanistan Polio Communication Review assesses the efficiency and effectiveness of social mobilisation and communication strategies and makes recommendations to further improve the interventions that should be implemented in the 2013-2014 low transmission season, with a view to achieving Objective 1 of the Polio Eradication and Endgame Strategic Plan 2013-2018 to interrupt all poliovirus transmission by the end of 2014. One recommendation: Hire an external agency to develop a convergence toolkit of information, education, and communication (IEC) materials for non-literate audiences and fund materials where polio is not the primary message. |
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| 11. Using Polio Eradication Assets to Improve Routine Immunization |
| The importance of capacity building of vaccinators, effective implementation of robust communication and social mobilisation strategies, real-time monitoring and analysis of data, research-based innovation, and seamless partnership are amongst the strategies outlined in this report, which emerged from a high-level, multi-partner meeting (July 4-5 2013, Islamabad, Pakistan). It was convened by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Government of Pakistan to discuss integration of RI and the polio eradication initiative (PEI). |
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| POLIO PERSPECTIVES: LEND YOUR VOICE! |
| 12. Polio Strategy Perspectives Survey |
| «Those who are heavily involved in polio work feel there are higher levels of public conversation, accurate information and local perspectives than those with less involvement.» This is just one of the findings of a survey conducted by The Communication Initiative (The CI) of small sections of its network with direct experience of the polio eradication programme in very high-priority countries. The survey sought to gain insight into a range of issues such as perceptions of public trust, leadership style, messaging, and reaching hard to reach populations from a targeted group. There were 142 respondents to the February to March 2013 survey, most (80%) of whom were from Pakistan, India, or Nigeria. |
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| 13. An Opinion on Polio Eradication in Nigeria |
| From blogger Danjuma Gambo: «Relatively huge successes have been recorded so far, but religion, culture, tradition and local politics remain significant impediments to polio eradication in Nigeria. The apparent failure of the state to deliver basic infrastructure and services to the people, though beyond the mandate of the PEI [Polio Eradication Initiative], is at the centre of resistance to the programme in some sections of the country. Much of the people’s anger is borne out of frustration at the failure of government to enhance the quality of life of ordinary people, despite the huge financial resources at its disposal.» [Feb 2014] |
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14. Development Communication in Polio Eradication: Evolved and Succeeded?
by Deepak Gupta and Anusha Agarwal |
| While India «has been particularly hailed as a success as it saw innovative use of epidemiological data and application of multiple communication channels», the authors argue that use of communication in a strategic way was limited, as the entire effort was addressed by the public-sector immunisation teams in administering polio drops to children – meaning that communication was oriented around promoting/marketing the polio vaccine – rather than in imparting ample knowledge to communities on the causal factors that are responsible for the spread of the polio virus (e.g., low rates of RI, poor sanitation, lack of clean drinking water, and poor nutrition). [Jan 2014] |
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| LEND YOUR VOICE TO THE POLIO COMMUNICATION DIALOGUE: |
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| See also these recent issues of The Drum Beat focused on polio communication: |
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| This issue of The Drum Beat was written by Kier Olsen DeVries. |
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| The Drum Beat is the email and web network of The Communication Initiative Partnership – Partners: ANDI, BBC Media Action, Bernard van Leer Foundation, Breakthrough, Calandria, Citurna TV, DFID, Eldis, FAO, Fundación Imaginario, Fundación Nuevo Periodismo, Heartlines, Iberoamericano (FNPI), IFPRI, Inter-American Development Bank, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs, MISA, Open Society Foundations, Oxfam Novib, PAHO, The Panos Institute, Puntos de Encuentro, The Rockefeller Foundation, SAfAIDS, Sesame Workshop, Soul City, STEPS International, UNAIDS, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, USAID, The Wellcome Trust, World Health Organization (WHO), W.K. Kellogg Foundation.The Drum Beat seeks to cover the full range of communication for development activities. Inclusion of an item does not imply endorsement or support by The Partners.
Chair of the Partners Group: Garth Japhet, Founder, Soul City garth@heartlines.org.za
Executive Director: Warren Feek wfeek@comminit.com |
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| The Editor of The Drum Beat is Kier Olsen DeVries. |
| Please send additional project, evaluation, strategic thinking, and materials information on communication for development at any time. Send to drumbeat@comminit.comThe Drum Beat seeks to cover the full range of communication for development activities. Inclusion of an item does not imply endorsement or support by The Partners.
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