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After nearly 28 years, The Communication Initiative (The CI) Global is entering a new chapter. Following a period of transition, the global website has been transferred to the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa, where it will be administered by the Social and Behaviour Change Communication Division. Wits' commitment to social change and justice makes it a trusted steward for The CI's legacy and future.
 
Co-founder Victoria Martin is pleased to see this work continue under Wits' leadership. Victoria knows that co-founder Warren Feek (1953–2024) would have felt deep pride in The CI Global's Africa-led direction.
 
We honour the team and partners who sustained The CI for decades. Meanwhile, La Iniciativa de Comunicación (CILA) continues independently at cila.comminitcila.com and is linked with The CI Global site.
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The Soul Beat 238 - Social and Behaviour Change Communication and Health in Africa

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238
The Soul Beat

Soul Beat Africa

The Soul Beat 238 - Social and Behaviour Change Communication and Health in Africa
March 26, 2014
From SOUL BEAT AFRICA - where communication and media are central to AFRICA's social and economic development
This Soul Beat newsletter forms part of a partnership agreement between the Communication Initiative/Soul Beat Africa and the Health Communication Capacity Collaborative (HC3) project, based at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs. The partnership also involves the following theme sites:Funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), HC3 works to foster vibrant communities of practice at the national, regional, and global level that support improved evidence-based programming and continued innovation in social and behaviour change communication (SBCC) programmes focused primarily on: family health and reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health, and communicable diseases such as malaria. Across all areas of work, the HC3 approach includes working with faith-based organisations and encouraging community engagement.
This newsletter offers a selection of summaries from the HC3 supported Soul Beat Africa SBCC and Health theme site and includes experiences, research reports, and resources that look at SBCC as it relates to the focus areas of the HC3 project.

FAMILY PLANNING AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

  • 1. A3 Project: Expanding Family Planning Access, Availability, and Awareness - Rwanda and UgandaWorking in Africa, the A3 Project uses a multi-pronged approach in an effort to expand access to family planning (FP) information and services. Activities include: collaboration with faith-based organisations (FBOs), the use of mobile technologies to expand access to FP, and work with youth-serving organisations in Rwanda to improve the sexual and reproductive health (RH) of very young adolescents. Running from 2013 to 2015, the A3 Project is led by the Institute for Reproductive Health (IRH).

  • 2. Fact for Family Planning [2013]Published by FHI360, Facts for Family Planning presents a collection of key information and messages for use by those who communicate to others about family planning and is primarily designed for those who communicate with men and women who are seeking information about family planning and help in selecting a family planning method.

  • 3. Improving Family Planning Service Delivery to Adolescents in Ghana: Evidence from Rural Communities in Central Ghana [October, 2012]By Yeetey Enuameh, Ellen Boamah, Obed Ernest Nettey, Charlotte Tawiah, Alex Manu,Abubakari Sulemana, Charles Zandoh, George Adjei, Emmanuel Mahama, Stephaney Gyaase, Samuel Afari-Asiedu, and Seth Owusu-AgyeiThis working paper shares findings of a study to identify the family planning (FP) needs of the adolescent populace of Ghana in the Kintampo North Municipality and the Kintampo South district and to define the best approach to satisfying their needs. Study respondents from the qualitative arm of the survey had suggestions on how best to address FP needs of adolescents, including educating the community, young people, and their service providers on the benefits of and how to access FP services. Overall, the study found that adolescents face many challenges when it comes to accessing FP information and services.

  • 4. Love, Children and Family Planning: Seven Discussion Guides for Christian Small Groups [2013]Published by the Institute for Reproductive Health (IRH), this guide is made up of a series of Bible studies on family planning and related topics. It was produced to be used with Christian audiences to inspire discussion on family planning and provide accurate information about each method. The guide is intended for use by small groups in churches, neighbourhoods, and Christian nursing schools and health centers.


See this previous issue of The Drum Beat related to HC3
The Drum Beat 655 - SBCC and Health Communication
Also, if you wish to receive the DB Click: Health Communication, send an email to health@comminit.com requesting to "Subscribe: HealthComm". Thank you.


HIV/AIDS

  • 5. Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC): Demand Creation Toolkit [January, 2014]This toolkit is designed to provide implementing partners and organisations with the guidance and tools needed to conduct communication and outreach activities that drive demand for voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC). As stated in the toolkit, it "provides a step-by-step process to turn communication strategies into demand creation campaigns" and is meant for use at the national, regional, and local levels by Ministries of Health, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), and other implementing partners responsible for creating demand for VMMC.

  • 6. VMMC Demand Creation: Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Meeting, April 2013 [January, 2014]This video shows people discussing strategies to generate robust demand for VMMC in sub-Saharan Africa at an April 2013 three-day meeting in Lusaka, Zambia. The meeting included perspectives from non-HIV-related fields, including product advertising, social marketing, and behavioural economics, as well as some insights on personally tailored communication to market VMMC to men.

  • 7. The Umoja HIV and Your Community Facilitator's Guide [2011]By Bill Crooks, Jackie Mouradian, and Veena O'SullivanThe HIV and Your Community HIV Facilitator's Guide, published by Tearfund, seeks to "equip Umoja facilitators with basic information about HIV, as well as provide some simple tools for gathering and analysing information. It enables the facilitator to help churches and communities identify HIV-related issues, discuss them and think about the right response."

  • 8. Sikia Kengele Interpersonal Communication Training for Religious Leaders [2010]This guide was produced to guide a one-day training to teach religious leaders how to communicate important information about HIV and AIDS. The one-day training focuses on giving religious leaders tools they will need to effectively communicate HIV information so that it is most likely to be taken to heart by the people they are trying to reach and therefore more likely to change their behaviours. "The training describes four basic interpersonal communication skills needed during HIV prevention conversations: active listening; asking questions and probing; speaking simply; and using support materials to help deliver information."


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MATERNAL, NEWBORN AND CHILD HEALTHRESEARCH REPORTS

  • 9. Encouraging Positive Practices for Improving Child Survival (EPPICS) - GhanaLaunched in October 2011, the 4-year Encouraging Positive Practices for Improving Child Survival (EPPICS) project is working to foster high levels of community involvement to improve maternal and neonatal health outcomes in Ghana's East Mamprusi District. Created by Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the behaviour change communication (BCC) project intends to reduce such preventable deaths by training community members and traditional birth attendants.

  • 10. Promising Practices in Community Engagement for Elimination of New HIV Infections among Children by 2015 and Keeping their Mothers Alive [2012]This Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) review describes the Global Plan's emphasis on community engagement as an integral part of the scale-up strategy. It attempts to address the information gap around the essential and complementary role of communities in PMTCT. "In particular, this study sought to identify and share promising practices that can strengthen programmes and facilitate efforts to stop HIV transmission to children and enable their mothers to remain healthy."

  • 11. Scaling Up Livesaving Commodities for Women, Children, and Newborns: An Advocacy Toolkit [December, 2013]By Kristy Kade, Elesha Kingshott, Ashley Latimer, Billie-Jean Nieuwenhuyus, Michel Pacque, Susan Fox, and Nejia LiasThis toolkit provides information about the UN Commission on Life-Saving Commodities for Women and Children (the Commodities Commission), its 13 priority health commodities (items that can prevent and treat many of the leading causes of death in women, infants, and children), and examples of how its 10 recommendations to improve access and availability are being applied globally and within countries. It also provides advocacy resources for utilising the Commodities Commission platform to raise awareness and engage stakeholders in addressing commodity-related gaps in policy. The toolkit was designed to present critical information to policymakers, development partners, programme implementers, health professionals, private-sector leaders, civil-society activists, and community members in their role as advocates.

  • 12. Integrated Community Based Child Survival, Reproductive Health and Water and Sanitation Program in Mkuranga district, Tanzania: A Replicable Model of Good Practices in Community Based Health Care [December, 2012]By Koronel Mashalla Kema, Joseph Komwihangiro, and Saltiel KimaroThis journal article shares the experience of the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF) in using Community Based Health Care (CBHC) approaches to implement integrated Water and Sanitation, Child Survival, and Reproductive health programmes in the Mkuranga District of Tanzania. According to the article, in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the National Poverty Reduction Strategy goals, building partnerships with communities who are the key beneficiaries is a prerequisite. The evaluation study concluded that the model demonstrates that community participation is key to community empowerment, as well as community ownership and sustainability of health interventions.


MALARIA

  • 13. Rapid Access Expansion 2015 (RAcE 2015) - Malawi, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Niger, and NigeriaLaunched in April 2012, the World Health Organization (WHO)'s 5-year Rapid Access Expansion 2015 (RAcE 2015) programme is working to strengthen integrated community case management (iCCM) of malaria, pneumonia, and diarrhoea, as well as to increase coverage of diagnostic, treatment, and referral services for these major causes of childhood mortality, thereby accelerating progress toward the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). With funding from the Government of Canada, WHO has awarded grants of up to US$ 2 million annually to institutions and organisations, focusing on working with community volunteers living in remote villages and training them to identify and treat the 3 diseases named above.

  • 14. Impact of a Mass Media Campaign on Bed Net Use in Cameroon [2013]By Hannah BowenThis Malaria journal article discusses the impact of a national communications campaign in Cameroon (July 2011 - March 2012) to accompany the distribution of free long-lasting insecticide treated nets (LLINs) in an effort to reduce the morbidity and mortality burden of malaria in the country. Drawing on behaviour change communication (BCC) principles, the mass media campaign was designed to ensure that, as the nets were delivered, they would be used consistently.

  • 15. Strategic Roles for Behaviour Change Communication in a Changing Malaria Landscape [January, 2014]By Hannah Koenker, Joseph Keating, Angela Acosta, Martin Alilio, Matthew Lynch, and Fatoumata Nafo-TraoreThis commentary, which appeared in the Malaria Journal, seeks to highlight the benefits and value for money that strategic behaviour change communication (BCC) brings to all aspects of malaria control, and to discuss areas of operations research needed as transmission dynamics change.

  • 16. Developing and Implementing Training Materials for Integrated Community Case Management in South Sudan [2012]By Susan GeorgeThis learning paper discusses the adaptation of best practices for delivering training of Community Drug Distributors (CDDs) in the implementation of integrated community case management (ICCM) to the context in South Sudan. In two states of South Sudan, NBeG and Unity, between June 2010 and June 2012, the Malaria Consortium developed materials and implementation of ICCM training, including evaluating the effectiveness of training and revising it to ensure that CDDs learned standards of care that had positive impact on the health of communities. This paper looks at the process, challenges, and lessons learned from implementing ICCM training in this setting.


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This publication is made possible by the support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the terms of Agreement No. AID-OAA-A-12-00058. The contents are the responsibility of The Communication Initiative and the Health Communication Capacity Collaborative, based at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs, and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.