Infectious disease/COVID | Democracy, Conflict, and Governance | Vulnerable Groups Aud des Ambassadeurs Comm Talk
Dec 07, 2022 04:15 PM - 04:45 PM(Africa/Casablanca)
20221207T1615 20221207T1645 Africa/Casablanca Strengthening Community Voices Aud des Ambassadeurs International Social and Behavior Change Communication Summit info@sbccsummit.org
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Achieving rapid behavior change in the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic - Uganda
Comm TalkPractice-oriented proposals 04:15 PM - 04:45 PM (Africa/Casablanca) 2022/12/07 15:15:00 UTC - 2022/12/07 15:45:00 UTC
The pandemic has caused a heavy death toll, disrupted livelihoods and has rolled back economic progress like no other public health emergency in the past 100 years. In Uganda over 160,000 COVID-19 cases and 3,500 deaths have been registered so far. The high adherence to the known public health and social measures that were embraced by communities was a game changer in our COVID-19 response as a country 


Between June and December 2021, Amref Health Africa’s COVID-19 response was structured around three pillars: Preventing Transmission, Preventing Death, and Preventing Social Harm. For each of the pillars, Amref’s approach was reinforced by our trademark commitment to community engagement and awareness-raising, delivered through an extensive network of village health teams (VHTs). Through strategic partnerships and an ambitious communication and thought leadership agenda, Amref continued to provide leadership and strategic policy direction at global, continental, regional, national, district and village levels on matters related to COVID-19. We left no one behind.


This is a snapshot of the key interventions implemented towards continuation of Amref’s COVID-19 response which began in mid-March 2020, initially targeting 10 countries in East, Southern, and West Africa. Since then, at least 30 COVID-19 projects have been rolled out, and an additional 45 existing projects realigned to incorporate COVID-19 into their routine implementation plans.

 Our COVID-19 response now spans 30 countries. The central focus of this work is on raising awareness to help reduce the number of new infections, border surveillance interventions, training of health workers to strengthen their capacity to respond to COVID-19, and WASH interventions, as well as support to the deployment of COVID-19 vaccines through awareness creation and community outreach, among others. In Uganda the Covid-19 Pandemic amplified the challenges in our country and demonstrated the importance of strong and effective partnerships in response efforts. As such Amref Health Africa in Uganda expeditiously re-programmed its activities in order to support and contribute towards flipping the script against COVID-19. Aligning all our work towards the new normal.
Presenters Lilian Kamanzi
Amref Health Africa
BA
Brenda Asiko
From words to action: community feedback in outbreaks response
Comm Talk 04:15 PM - 04:45 PM (Africa/Casablanca) 2022/12/07 15:15:00 UTC - 2022/12/07 15:45:00 UTC
The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed the world to a tipping point, but it has also reminded us that epidemics are all about people. From community leaders in Southern Africa, to religious leaders in Afghanistan and women's groups in Yemen, all defining and adapting COVID-19 protective measures to their needs; there is ample evidence that communities are central to preventing and containing epidemics.[1]
The time to take community-led action to the next level is now. Based on our collective experience of preparing and responding to outbreaks worldwide,  this would require that our interventions and measures are inclusive, agile and receptive to change which is continuously grounded in regularly collected community data. 
Community partnerships need joint accountability and so must be oriented by evidence.  It helps us to monitor our work and foster the community trust, civil responsibility and public solidarity needed for pandemic readiness.  We advocate that social and behavioural data and community perspectives drive our work and community-centred action becomes the norm.
Community feedback is an essential form of evidence in outbreaks, and should be included in decision-making processes.[2]


[1] Loewenson et al. 2020 Beyond command and control: A rapid review of meaningful community-engaged responses to COVID-19. Glob Pub Health https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33734007/ 
[2] McKay G, Baggio O, Camara CA, et al' The response is like a big ship': community feedback as a case study of evidence uptake and use in the 2018–2020 Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the CongoBMJ Global Health 2022;7:e005971https://gh.bmj.com/content/7/2/e005971.citation-tools
Presenters Ombretta Baggio
International Federation Of Red Cross And Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)
,
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)
,
Amref Health Africa
 Jitendra Awale
,
CGPP India, World Vision US
,
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
,
Catholic Relief Services (CRS)
,
Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF)
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