As the menace of Ebola continues to spread within Sierra Leone and Liberia, creating new epicenters in areas heretofore minimally affected, the need for a focused IEC response to empower people with the information, tools and resources to effectively protect themselves from contracting the Ebola virus is brought to a fore. Although other dimensions of the current Ebola response are vital, IEC probably provides the greatest hope to get ahead of the Ebola virus, by preventing human-to human transmission and finally putting an end to this epidemic. There is now anecdotal evidence that Ebola transmission even in the direst circumstances, given the right knowledge, attitude and practices, can be avoided. But knowledge of this possibility alone would not end this epidemic. To see any sustained and meaningful result, effective behaviors or attitudes and practices that have been identified, have to be adopted en masse. There is also evidence that IEC when done properly, can lead to behavior change. Example, successful campaigns by public health agencies has drastically reduced smoking in the North America. IEC is a good approach to supporting behavior change to contain Ebola. Therefore at his stage of the Ebola intervention, IEC should evolve and focus on behavior change. A good response environment should be characterized by the following elements of IEC, which is not exhaustive: • Up to 80% of the IEC budget has been allocated or disbursed, with only 20% withheld to be released for reinforcement IEC after 21 consecutive days of no Ebola case recorded nationwide. • The population has been segmented to appropriate location, audience and communication vehicles, taking advantage of the full range of tools available such as social media, cell phones, television, radio, community media such as town criers, workshops etc., and these tools are mapped to locations. • Stakeholders such as NGOs with the right skills have been contracted and behavioral themes (issues or risk factors that have been associated with the spread of Ebola) that would be targeted by IEC at the community level, have been identified and finalized. E.g. burying the dead, conducting activities of daily living (practices), taking care of the sick etc. • An emotional marketing theme has been selected as the motivating factor that would underscore all IEC effort. Fear has been successfully used as a motivating factor in Public Health advertising for smoking cessation in the US. Fear is also an appropriate theme for Ebola because of the shock value and the quick turnaround time it could generate. • 70% of all Ebola IEC Billboards or advertisements on radio and television, cell phone text messages and videos, etc., have been redone to reflect the stage of the response, they use fear as a motivation factor and are focused only on one behavioral theme at a time in the graphic or narration. An excellent e.g. can be a four part graphics story line of the behavioral theme: “burying someone who has died of Ebola,” such as (1) A graphic showing a loving happy family. (2) The Father takes part in burying an Ebola victim. (3) The Father is dead and the children are sick. (4) The Entire family dies. Another four part graphic shows the desired behavior such as: (1) A graphic showing a loving happy family. (2) Someone dies of Ebola, the father and other community members call the burial team (3) The Father is alive with his family (4) The Entire family is flourishing. Advert ends with a call to action such as call the burial team at 117. Additional billboards are being erected in the hardest hit communities. • 4X6 beautifully done keepsakes of graphics on selected behavioral themes such as “activities of daily living,” are prepared and being distributed to community members by animators, which they receive as part of training packages of community animators, town criers and the like focal points, starting in the most affected villages and towns. • Resources such as buckets, soap, chlorine, gloves etc., are also being distributed to the poor in the hardest hit communities to support behavior change. • Cell Phone text messages, social media messages etc., are being sent to the appropriate audiences to share lessons learnt on how to conduct activities of daily living to avoid contracting Ebola. • A focal point has been identified to liaise with the media and journalists (both international and local) to coordinate and streamline communication, programming and reporting on Ebola. • International and local journalists are engaged and are carrying programming that is aligned with local IEC objectives. • Daily shared public learning on appropriate responses using local actors is available. These actors have successfully avoided contracting Ebola in difficult situations such as a quarantined home, taking care of a sick family member-- is carried by journalists on television and radio, newspaper and text versions are sent to mobile phones. Adverts are also taken up in newspapers. • Discussion panels are being organized to engage the community about personal steps individuals and families are taking to avoid contracting Ebola. These discussion programs use local actors and allow community participation via phone. They involve lively discussion and question and answer session by panel of health experts and community leaders. • Community leaders are consulted and are engaged in all aspects of decision making, their concerns are addressed promptly to manage the under current of tension and prevent conflict or violence. • A national day of mourning has been identified and communicated to all concerned such as 30 days after the epidemic is officially declared over. A committee has been established to oversee preparations for this day.
Posted on: Thu, 02 Oct 2014 05:00:55 +0000
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