Training on COVID-19 and other outbreak

Prevention and response for Media, PR and

promotion professionals

Mekele, Tigray
May, 2023
 Presentation Outline

1 2 3 4 5
Demand
Introduction Goal of generation Principles of SBCC Process/P-
communication strategies and Media reporting Process
approaches
 Introduction
 Promotion of COVID-19 vaccination and other prevention methods is crucial to
interruption COVID-19 transmission among the community

 Demand generation/promotion interventions need high quality planning and

implementation process

 People interpret and make meaning of information based on their own context

 Culture, norms, and networks influence people’s behavior

 People can’t always control the issues that create their behavior
 Introduction…….
 The key to effective communication is effective listening

 In order to communicate effectively, we need to put ourselves in the place of

our communication participants and see things from their point of view

 Good communication helps to create and maintain respect and trust

 Social and behavioral change communication can help to influence many of

those factors to bring about behavior change
 Factors Influencing Willingness to receive COVID 19 vaccine
(based on studies conducted in Ethiopia)

 Decreasing trend of risk perception on COVID-19

 35% in Aug 2020
 32% in Feb 2021
 25% in Sep 2021
 24.5% everyone is at risk (1st round COVAX campaign in Tigray )
 Misinformation and disinformation was the major driver for low vaccine uptake
 Inadequate reliable source of information
 Less exposure to media
 Goal of Communication

• To empower people to make evidence based informed

decisions on COVID-19 and other out break diseases
response
• To encourage communities trust on the health services

•To facilitate access to timely, accurate and credible information

to the community

•To provide people with a means of asking questions and having

their concerns addressed
What is Communication?
The process of sharing ideas, feeling or Attitudes.
An attempt of trying to establish commonness or
common understanding between two parties.
 Cont.…………

 To make known/to inform

 To exchange ideas

 To express oneself

 To connect/to be connected

 To understand/to be understood
What is risk Communication?

• Risk Communication is defined as the real-time exchange of

information, advice and opinions between experts or officials
and people who face a threat (outbreak) to their survival,
health or economic or social well-being.
Its ultimate purpose is:

To ensure that everyone at risk for outbreak is able to take

informed decisions to mitigate the outbreak spreading take
personal protective and preventive measures, and proceed if
someone gets cholera.
Socio-Ecological Model (SEM)

• The SEM is foundational model for

social and behavior change.

• SEM Helps us map ‘stakeholders’ by

level / context

• Personal and environmental factors

that determine behaviors
Socio-Ecological Model (SEM)

• Supportive legal and policy framework

• Infrastructure (Water, electricity, transport, access)
• Committed leadership
• Better sectoral coordination (agri, educ, health)

• Access and availability of the services

• Friendly services (IPC, CRC)
• Enhanced knowledge and skills of service providers

• Supportive community norms

• Well informed and motivated CHWs

 Knowledge and attitude of the individual

 Skill to practice the behavior
 Belief and value
 Perceived risk
Social Ecological Model of SBCC
Key Demand Creation/Promotion Strategies and Approaches to
prevent diseases and utilize health services
Strategies and approaches

 Multiple types of activities and communication

channels - should be used for communicating critical
information for successful campaigns.
 There is no single magic bullet
 Contextualized community engagement and
mobilization is very crucial
 Gender consideration for equitable access
 Disability friendly communication
 Social Behavior Change approaches
3. Supportive Public Policies…
• Changing the rules at the top to enable positive change through the use of regulation,
incentives, and penalties

4. Systems Strengthening…
• Strengthening sectoral systems to facilitate and achieve SBC objectives.
• We cannot achieve SBC objectives without equipping the health systems.

5. Service Improvements…
• Designing services that are accessible, usable and quality from the perspective of users
• Tactics for enhancing service improvements include both advocacy and engagement.
• Can help you improve the demand by making the experience better.
 Advocacy Strategy

 Advocacy is an organized effort to inform and motivate leadership and

commitment to create an enabling environment for achieving
programme objective

 It aims primarily to change the behavior, perception or attention of

public, religious, community or political leaders or decision-makers in
order to the program objective
 Advocacy/Sensitization Strategy
Advocacy/Sensitization strategy

 COVID-19 and other outbreak diseases response requires different levels of advocacy
with the involvement of leadership, religious and community leaders & decision makers

 Advocacy workshops:

 Regional and cluster level advocacy meetings

 Engaging role models (Cabinet members, religious and community leaders and artists
being vaccinated)
 Advocacy of People with Disability, IDPs
 Advocacy

Integrated Measles SIA campaign requires advocacy at Regional, Zonal, wereda, kebele

levels, through the engagement of

 Political leaders

 Kebele admin

 Religious leader,

 influential community leaders

 Partners

 Media agencies

 Governmental Sectors (regional and zonal and woredas advocacy meetings)

 Social Mobilization
 A process that engages/motivates various stakeholders at regional and local levels for
intersectoral collaboration to increase the uptake of vaccines
 Is a communication strategy, by engaging different stakeholders, including:

 Government Bureaus/organizations, and regional media agencies

 International and local NGOs, Faith-based organizations

 Civil societies, Public & private sectors

 Community-based organizations, Professional associations, and Communities and families

 Media organizations

 By using audio mounted vehicle, social mobilizers/town carriers, community conversation

Social and behavior change communication (SBCC)
Multi channels communications

For changes in knowledge, attitudes, and practices of specific

participants/audiences in programs
 Uses interpersonal,

 Small group,

 Mass media including printed

 Other materials to promote behavior change at the individual level

 Develop emergency key messages and materials on

 COVID-19 ,Communicable disease, MNCH service utilization

Design and print printing materials and disseminate appropriate key messages through

 poster
 Leaflet , Booklet & brochure
 Banners
 Billboards, flipcharts
 Stickers
 Magazine or news paper –

one page on magazine

 Job Aids and others

Appropriate utilization?
Using Communication materials IEC/SBCC

ኣብ ምክልኻል ሕማም ይረስ ኮሮና （ ኮቪድ-19) ን

ክታበቱን ኣመልኪቱ ሓበሬታ እንትትደልዩ
ኣብ ቀረባ ንዝርከብ ትካል ጥዕና ወይ በዓል ሞያ ጥዕና
ሕተቱ
ሕማም ቫይረስ ኮሮና
(ኮቪድ19) እንታይእዩ?
ቁልፊ መልእኽትታት

ክታበት መከላኸሊ ሕማም ይረስ ኮሮና

(ኮቪድ-19)

• ዘትኣማምንን ድሕንነቱ ዝተሓለወን እዩ።

• ክታበት ድሕሪ ምኽታብ ካብ 15 – 30 ደቒቐ ኮፍ ብምባል

ዕረፍቲ ይግበሩ/ይግበራ

• ናብ ክታበት ናቑጣ እንትትኸዱ ካብ ከተብቲ ካርዲ ክታበት

ምቕባል ኣይትረስዑ/ዓ

• ቅድሚ ሐዚ ዝተከተብኩምን ዘይተከተብኩምን ልዕሊ 18

ዝዕድሜኹም ክታበት ፀረ ሕማም ቫይረስ ኮሮና (ኮቪድ-19)
ክትወስዱ ይግባእ

• ክታበት ድሕሪ ምውሳድ ዝኾነ ዓይነት ፀገም ጥዕና እንተጋጢሙ

ንበዓልሞያ ጥዕና የማኽሩ/ራ
Disseminate appropriate key message through mass media channels

 Radio

 TV

 SMS , films or videos, audio – visuals (video clip , film, TV drama)

 Press releases or media briefing & Press conferences

 Mobile van with car

 Megaphones

 Social media
Face to face communication at different setting

• Households • Tabia/Kebele

• Health facilities • Youth game zones

• Religious places • Hard to reach areas

• IDP centers • Prison

• Bus stations • Charity centers

• Work places Identify and use any community gathering

opportunities and places
 Capacity building/Orientation
 Capacity building/orientation on demand promotion is very important for:

 Media professionals (continuous)

 Public relations

 Health professionals

 Influential bodies

 Communication/RCCE task force members

The capacity building focuses on:

 Demand generation and

 Risk/crisis communication
 Media Engagement
 Media outlets play a key role in Covid-19 vaccine uptake, outbreak response and
health service utilization

 Conducting sensitization with the journalists and reporters make them key
advocates

 Proactively identify, filter out and respond the spread of rumors,

misinformation and fake news
 Preparing talking points on health problems & conducting regular press briefing

 Prepare panel discussions, expert interview, media crew and other media
engagement activities
 Eg. Media Influence on Covid-19 Vaccine uptake
 The influence of media on vaccine uptake has been reported in many African
countries:
 In Sierra Leone, availability of media outlets and the framing of COVID-19
vaccine messaging contributed to a 32.4% willingness of people to take the
vaccine
 Messages should explain the benefits and potential side effects of the
vaccine, which increased people’s trust

 Thus access to media correlates with higher COVID-19 vaccine acceptance

 Media Influence cont….
 So, Journalists/media professionals play a vital role in informing the public
on science and important advances that can benefit the health of their
communities

 The role of media in shaping people’s perceptions and attitudes is highly

important
 Proactively identify, filter out and prevent the spread of misinformation

 Produce different stories

 Be exemplary as champions by walking the talk and adhering to preventive

measures
 Social Media Strategy
 Offers significant potential for communicating about COVID-19 and other outbreak
diseases response directly to the public

 Convenient way to communicate regularly and give real-time updates

 Importantly, majority of rumors and outrage go viral within few seconds

 Building social media presence and communication is critical in diseases prevention

 Raise the public awareness
 Monitor public concerns on vaccine misconception or rumors through social media
listening
 Principles
Key for Reporting
messages Cont.…
For Eg. on COVID-19 Vaccines

1. Reinforce vaccination norms

 Consider how your reporting can help to encourage trust in safe and effective
vaccines and reinforce vaccination norms

2. Remind people the benefits of vaccines

 Emphasize that COVID-19 vaccines can prevent Severe disease and death from
the virus

 Inform audiences about the importance of all vaccines

 Principles for Reporting cont.…
3. Use clear, audience-friendly language

 Frame scientific language through explanations with simplified terms for audiences of all
levels
 Avoid jargon and define scientific terms in every article, or link to a glossary of terms to
allow readers to educate themselves

4. Address vaccine hesitancy

 Give the complete picture of the vaccines’ development and provide trustworthy

information using expert and scientific sources

 Report facts and figures about the role of effective vaccines in ending health epidemics

throughout history
 Principles for Reporting cont.…

5. Responsibly disclose the potential side effects of COVID-19 vaccines

 Clearly state possible and expected side effects to inform the public, and help

them understand what to expect

 Understand that mild allergic reactions are to be expected with vaccines and
should not be considered evidence that vaccines are unsafe
Social listening and monitoring or clarifying rumours and community
concerns

Important points to note:

 Understand the Rumors, public concerns and misinformation

 Critical to prepare mechanisms to adequately track and manage rumors, fake

news or misinformation

 Plans should have clear actions to mitigate the impact of misinformation,

disinformation, and crisis related to the health

 Closely work with the THB to overcome the crisis occurred

Social listening and monitoring or clarifying rumours and community
concerns

o Trusted information should reach people

o Rumors should be addressed by maintaining a very open flow of

information from the beginning of the outbreak;

o Rumors spread easily when information is incomplete or delayed.

o Key messages to the public should help people to prevent and response
diseases and utilize health services.
Misconception, rumors, harmful practice etc?
P-Process with particular focus
on Measles outbreak response
 Process of strategic communication
Step 1: Analysis

Step 2: Strategic Design

Step 3: Development and Testing

Step 4: Implementation and Monitoring

Step 5: Evaluation and Replanning

While a father was taking his son to school a car accident
occurred. The father died immediately and the son was taken to
hospital for surgery. But the doctor at the hospital said “ I can’t
operate this child because he is my son”.

How ?
ሓደ እዋን ኣቦ ወዱ ናብ ቤት ትምህርቲ ኣብ ዝወስደሉ እዋን ሓደጋ መኪና የጋጥም። እቲ ኣቦ ሽዑ ንሽዑ
እንትመውት ወዱ መጥባሕቲ ኽግበረሉ ብቕልጡፍ ናብ ሆስፒታል ተወሲዱ። ይኹንምበር ኣነ ንውላደይ
መጥባሕቲ ኽገብረሉ ኣይኽእልን ዝብል ድምፂ ካብቲ ክፍሊ ይስማዕ። እዚ ከመይ’ሉ ክኸውን ይኽእል?
Why people are less likely to use Immunization services?
Immunization services are less likely to be used by people who are:

• Uninformed

• Dissatisfied

• Too busy

• Misinformed

• Distant
 1. Analysis

• Identification of factors that barriers or facilitators to desired behavior

• Identification stakeholders

• Identification and segmentation target audiences

• Assesse communication channels availability

• Analyze audience media preference and utilization

 1. Analysis

Assess the Health Issue/Problem

 To better describe the health problem or issue

 who is affected, and what is occurring versus what should be occurring.

 Conduct rapid assessment

 Quantitative or qualitative
- Learn about the communities (demographics such as language, religion; KAP, perceptions

about health problems; most at risk populations)

- Learn about the existing and preferred communication channels
 Review available data (መረዳእታ)
• The problem or issue, the incidence or prevalence ,
• Who is affected (the potential intended audience), including age, sex,
ethnicity, economic situation, educational level, place of work and
residence, and causative or preventive behaviors)
• The effects of the health problem on individuals and communities
• Possible causes and preventive measures
• Possible solutions, treatments, or remedies
ግጉያት ኣተሓሳስበታትን ጎዳእቲ ልምድታትን
Socio-Ecological Model (SEM)

• Supportive legal and policy framework

• Infrastructure (Water, electricity, transport, access)
• Committed leadership
• Better sectoral coordination (agri, educ, health)

• Access and availability of the services

• Friendly services (IPC, CRC)
• Enhanced knowledge and skills of service providers

• Supportive community norms

• Well informed and motivated CHWs

 Knowledge and attitude of the individual

 Skill to practice the behavior
 Belief and value
 Perceived risk
ፀገማት ምንፃርን ብቐደም ሰዓብ ምቕማጥን

ፀገማት ብቕደም ሰዓብ ናይ ምቅድዳም ረብሓ

• ውስንነት ፀጋ/ሀፍቲ ብምህላዉ
• ትኹረት ዘድልዮ ፈሊኻ ንምፍላጥ
• ግዘ
መንቀሊ ምኽንያት ፀገም ጥዕና
ምትንታን ላዕለዋይ ፀገም

መንቀሊ ምኽንያታት
ምትንታን

መፍትሒ
Existing tool
• Using existing solutions - How do you remove a ping pong ball from a
tube bolted on the floor?
Existing tool

“I gave the tools to distract you!”

Analyze the situation

• ብዛዕባ ሕማም ንፍዮ ሓበሬታ ኣለኩም ዶ?

• ንቫይረስ ኮሮና ከቃልዑና ዝኽእሉ ኹነታት እንታይ ኣለው ?
• ንቫይረስ ኮሮና ተቃላዕቲ እና ኢልኩምዶ ትሓስቡ?
• ምልክታት ሕማም ቫይረስ እንታይ እንታይ እዮም?
• ሕማም ንፍዮ ከመይ ምክልኻል ይከኣል?
 Target Audiences
• Primary target audience
• Mothers, Care givers, Households
• Secondary target audience
• Religious leaders/
• Admin
• Teachers
• WDG
• Health professionals
• International a/ngo
Identification Behavioral problems/ባህርያዊ ፀገማት ምፍላይን ብቅደም ሰዓብ ምቅማጥን

• ህፃውንቲ ዘይምኽታብ

• ምልክታት ሕማም ንፍዮ ዘለዎም ህፃውንቲ ናብ ትካል ጥዕና ዘይምውሳድ

• ትሑት ኣፍልጦ ሜላታት መከላኸሊ ሕማም ንፍዮ

• ሓደጋነት ሕማም ንፍዮ ኣቅሊልካ ምርኣይ

• ተቃላዕቲ ኣይኮንናን ኢልካ ምሕሳብ

 Strategic Design

1. Set behavioral objectives

2. Determine communication channels
3. Work plan
 Strategic Design

• Every communication program or project needs a strategic design.

• During strategy design always consider gender sensitivity/issues

 1. Set behavioral objectives

• Objectives describe what audience should think, know, feel and do.

• Communication objectives need to be SMART

• Objectives follow situational analysis findings

• Prioritize behaviors that will have the greatest impact

 Objectives

• ኣብ ዝቕፅሉ 3 ኣዋርሕ 100% ህፃውንቲ ክታበት ፀረ-ንፍዮ ምኽታብ ( ኣብ X ጣብያ)

• ኣብ ዝቕፅሉ 3 ኣዋርሕ ምልክት ሕማም ንፍዮ ዘለዎም ናብ ትካል ጥዕና ዝልኻ ልምዓት ጉጅለ
ናብ 100% ምብፃሕ ( ኣብ X ጣብያ)
 2. Determine communication channels

• Channel is a means/medium by which the message transmit

to the intended audience

• Choosing the channels that are the most likely to reach the

intended audience
 Determine communication channels

• Combination/mix channel is the best strategic approach for behavioral change

(a synergistic impact)

• Select a lead channel and supporting channels

• Channel selection considers the audience analysis and channel analysis

Types of communication channels
• Face to face communication ( The most appropriate)
- Interpersonal communications
- Group communications
- Community engagement

• Social media (Face book, telegram, web based distribution of documents, mobile
application),

• Free hotline and Mobile vans (highly needed in emergency)

• Mass media (Television, Radio and print materials)

• With this continuous Advocacy and social mobilization were done.

Criteria for channel selection

• Efficiency
• Effectiveness
• Accessibility
• How frequently should the messages transmitted
• Audience media preferences and habits
 3. Work plan

• Prepare implementation & evaluation plan

• Which combination of communication channels to use

• Which groups of people to involve as stakeholder

 Work plan
• Activities to be conducted eg. Assessments, supervision, messages and
materials development, training, advocacy etc
 Work plan templet
S.No Tasks/Activities Target Responsible Stakeholder Time frame Budget
audience body
 Development and test

• Develop the communication messages and materials based on the strategy.

• While developing any health communication material,

- to see things from the audience’s perspective.

- effective communicators always put themselves in their audience’s shoes.

 Developing messages…..

• Evidence based (based on available data, identified gaps)

• Focus on one issue

• Avoid jargons

• Sensitive to gender differences and culture.

• Has information on where to go for further information or support

Make sure that you follow the 7 Cs of communication while developing your
materials.
• “7 Cs “ act as a checklist to ensured that message is interesting, clear
and effective in reaching the audience and promoting the desired
behavior

1. Command attention
• Attract and capture the audience’s attention.

• Make it memorable!

2. Clarify the message

• The message should be clear, simple and direct.

• Easily understood
“7 Cs” …

3. Communicate the benefit

• State the advantages of practicing the new behavior

4. Consistency
• Repeat the same message consistently across different communication channels to avoid
confusion and enhance the impact of the message

• People learn by repetition and repetition similar message with different approaches and channels

5. Create trust
• Ensure you use accurate information and credible channels. Credibility of the message is
essential, as without it, the message will go ignored by the target audiences
“7 Cs”…

6. Cater for heart and head

• People are persuaded/influenced by both facts and emotions.

7. Call to action

• A clear call to action stating/telling exactly what the audience should do.
Different information need

“One size may not fit all!”

A single campaign may

not meet everyone’s
needs.
• People have different perspectives – view
point for the same thing

Integral means
ONE
 Incomplete data

People fill the gaps when they lack information

 Information Organization

People understand best information that is well

organized.
“I apologize for the length of this letter, but I didn’t
have time to write a short one”

Mark Twain
ንሕብረተሰብ ክመሓላለፉ ዝግብኦም

መልእኽትታት ንፍዮ
 ተቃላዕነትን ሓደጋነትን ሕማም ንፍዮ

 ንፍዮ ብጣዕሚ ተላባዳይን ካብቶም ቀንዲ ምክንያት ሞት ህፃውንቲ ዝኾኑ ሕማማት ሓደ

ኮይኑ ብክታበት ክንከላኸሎ እንኽእል እዩ

 ኩሉ ክፋል ሕብረተሰብ ንሕማም ንፍዮ ተቃላዓይ እንትኸውን ብፍላይ ድማ ህፃውንቲ
ብዝለዓለ ተጠቃዕቲ እዮም።
ሳዕቤን ሕማም ንፍዮ
• ሞት

• ሕማም

• ዓይነ ስውርነት

• ረኽሲ ሳንባ

• ውፅኣት
ምልክታት ሕማም ንፍዮ

o ረስኒ
o ኣብ ሙሉእ ሰውነቱ ዕንፍሩር ምውፃእ

o ሰዓል

o ካብ ኣፍንጭኡ ማይ ዝመስል ንፋጥ ምፍሳስን

o ዓይኒ ምቕያሕን ዘለዎ እንተኾይኑ ሕማም ንፍዮ

ክኸውን ይኽእል።

o ምልክታት ሕማም ንፍዮ ዝተርኣዮም ሰባት ምእላሽን

ብቅልጡፍ ናብ ቀረበኦም ትካል ጥዕና ምውሳድን
መተሓላለፊ መንገድታት ንፍዮ

• ንፍዮ ዝሓመመ ሰብ እንትስዕልን እንተሀንጥስን ካብ ኣፍ ብዝወፅእ

ነጠብጣብ ኣቢሉ ናብ ጥዑይ ሰብ ይመሓላለፍ።

• ብንፍዮ ዝሓመመ ሰብ ብኢዱ ኣፍንጭኡን ኣፉን ኣብ ዝሕዘሉ እዋን

ብምንኽኻእ እቲ ቫይረስ ናብ ካሊእ ሰብ ይመሓለልፍ እዩ።
መከላኸሊ መንገድታት ሕማም ንፍዮ
መከላኸሊ መንገድታት

o ህፃውንቲ ኣብ 9 ወርሒ፣ ሓደ ዓመትን 3 ወርሕን

ክልተ ግዜ ክታበት ፀረ-ንፍዮ ምኽታብ

o ክታበት ንፍዮ ዘይጀመሩ ወይ ዘቛረፁን ህፃውንቲ ምኽታብ

o ካብ ስዑድ ዓረብ፣ ካልኦት ካብ ትግራይ ወፃኢ ዝመፁ ህፃውንቲ ብዝርዝር ሽም ብምሓዝ

ተኸታቲልካ ክታበት ፀረ-ንፍዮ ምኽታብ።

o ህፃውንቲ በቢ 6 ወርሒ ኣፈላላይ ጠብታ

ቫይታሚን "ኤ" ምሃብ

 ዝቐፀለ………
• ህፃውንቲ ክሳብ 6 ወርሒ ዕድሚኦም ፀባ ጡብ ኣዶ ጥራሕ ምጥባው

• ከባብያውን ውልቃዊውን ፅሬት ምሕላው

 ጉጅለ ዕዮ
• ኣብ ጣብያኽን/ወረዳኽን ኣብዚ ሕዚ እዋን ቀዳምነት ዝውሃቦ ስግኣት ለበዳ ኣይናይ’ዩ?
ተቁ ቀንዲ ስግኣት ለበዳ ስፍሓት ፀገም ዘስዕቦ ሳዕቤን ነቲ ፀገም ናይ ምፍታሕ ንመንግስቲ ኣገዳሲ ፀገም ድምር ንጥቢ
(5) (5) ተኽእልሎ (5) የትሓሳስብዶ? (5) ሕበተሰብ ድዩ? (5) (25)

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• መንቀሊ ምኽንያታት እዚ ለበዳ እንታይ ይምስለክን? ተንትና

• ዘለዉ መማረፂ ሜላ/መምሓላለፊ መንገዲ መልእኽቲ እንታይ እዩም?

• ናይዚ ዝተነፀረ ስግኣት ለበዳ ቀንዲ ተበፃሕቲ መልእኽቲ እንመን እዮም?

• ብመንፅር ዝተቐመጠ ፀገም ጥዕና ዕላማ ስርዓተ ርክብ ኣቐምጣ

• ወለዲ ወይ ሓብሐብቲ ክፈልጥዎም ዝግብኣኡ ቁልፊ መልእኽቲ ዘርዝራ

Consider information itself as a key element of protection.
(Sphere standard)
Thank
you