PAHO launches campaign to raise awareness of COVID-19 mental health toll on frontline health workers

SBC CampaignSBC Materials

The campaign Mental Health Now – Tell Your Story, will collect written and video stories from healthcare workers in the Americas through Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, which will be compiled and disseminated through PAHO’s website and social media channels until the end of the year. The story selection will be based on specific criteria, aiming to portray the breadth of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and display the diversity of the Americas.

COVID-19 Prevention campaign in the circle of Koro

Reports and StudiesSBC Campaign

ACTED, with the support of ECHO, has implemented support activities as well as information sessions in the district of Koro. This initiative also aims at reinforcing the prevention capacities of the local populations to the risks of the pandemic. With this project, ACTED supports the Malian government in the fight against COVID-19 in the health district of Koro.

The Truck: A COVID-19 prevention campaign on wheels

SBC CampaignSBC Materials

The Truck is a multi-media messenger on wheels traveling South Africa and broadcasting local stories about how COVID-19 has affected people’s lives. Accompanied by trained community engagement teams, the joint effort is a vital communication intervention creating awareness about COVID-19 prevention methods while combatting misinformation and myths about the virus.

Promoting COVID-19 vaccine acceptance: recommendations from the Lancet Commission on Vaccine Refusal, Acceptance, and Demand in the USA

PrintReports and Studies

A low uptake of COVID-19 vaccines will prolong the social and economic repercussions of the pandemic on families and communities, especially low-income and minority ethnic groups, into 2022, or even longer. The scale and challenges of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign are unprecedented. Therefore, through a series of recommendations, we present a coordinated, evidence-based education, communication, and behavioural intervention strategy that is likely to improve the success of COVID-19 vaccine programmes across the USA.

Take the Lead in Protecting our Community (Zambia)

SBC MaterialsSocial Media

This poster is part of a COVID-19 prevention campaign in Zambia. The poster explains the five golden rules to follow after getting vaccinated: wear a mask, maintain social distancing, avoid crowds, wash your hands correctly and seek medical help if you do not feel well.

Vaccine for yourself, your community, or your country? Examining audiences’ response to distance framing of COVID-19 vaccine messages

PrintReports and Studies

This study explored the effects of COVID-19 vaccine promotion messages highlighting the benefit at individual, community, and country levels. Based on the cultural theory of risks, we investigated how individuals’ valuation of individualism vs. communitarianism and hierarchical vs. egalitarian social structure affect their responses to vaccine messages.

Vaccine hesitancy: Perspective from the global polio eradication program in Balochistan

ArticlePrint

Polio is 99% eradicated but remains endemic in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine hesitancy and refusals have become a worldwide phenomenon. In this blog post, the author lists several reasons why people refuse vaccines.

Trends in handwashing behaviours for COVID-19 prevention: Longitudinal evidence from online surveys in 10 sub-Saharan African countries

PrintReports and Studies

Handwashing is essential for respiratory virus prevention, but uptake of handwashing in the context of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic remains under-explored. This study examines trends in and determinants of handwashing practices for COVID-19 prevention in 10 countries in West, East, and Southern Africa.

COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy on Social Media: Building a Public Twitter Data Set of Antivaccine Content, Vaccine Misinformation, and Conspiracies

PrintReports and Studies

False claims about COVID-19 vaccines can undermine public trust in ongoing vaccination campaigns, posing a threat to global public health. Misinformation originating from various sources has been spreading on the web since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Antivaccine activists have also begun to use platforms such as Twitter to promote their views. To properly understand the phenomenon of vaccine hesitancy through the lens of social media, it is of great importance to gather the relevant data.

Video – COVID-19 vaccine: Bringing us together

SBC MaterialsVideo

The COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective. When it’s your turn, we encourage you to get vaccinated as soon as possible. Remember that it is essential for everyone, including those who have been vaccinated, to help stop the spread of infection by washing hands, keeping your distance, and following local mask guidelines.

Communicating about Vaccine Safety: Guidelines to help health workers communicate with parents, caregivers, and patients

Guidance DocumentPrint

The main objective of these guidelines is to provide tools for staff working in the field of immunization to support effective communication between health personnel and the general population, with the aim of strengthening, maintaining or recovering trust in vaccines and the immunization programs in the Region of the Americas.

The University of Pennsylvania’s Behavior Change for Good Initiative Unveils Effective Strategies to Boost Vaccination Rates

ArticlePrint

The Behavior Change for Good Initiative (BCFG) at the Wharton School and the School of Arts and Sciences of the University of Pennsylvania, in collaboration with the Penn Medicine Nudge Unit (PMNU), today released findings from two of the largest-ever research studies aimed at increasing vaccine adoption. Conducted with Walmart and two regional health systems (Penn Medicine and Geisinger), these studies reveal simple communications that reminded individuals a flu shot was “waiting” or “reserved” for them proved most effective, boosting vaccination rates by up to 11%. The promising results can be adapted to encourage COVID-19 vaccinations.

WHO strategy for engaging religious leaders, faith-based organizations and faith communities in health emergencies

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This strategy defines how WHO and religious leaders, faith-based organizations, and faith communities can support national governments during health emergencies. The goal is to enable more effective responses by strengthening collaboration between the WHO, national governments and religious leaders, faith-based organizations, and faith communities, resulting in more people being better protected from health emergencies and enjoying better health and well-being, including improved trust and social cohesion.

Updated Toolkit: COVID-19 Booster Dose Messaging and Outreach Tools

Guidance DocumentPrint

Millions of Americans are now eligible to get a COVID-19 booster dose. The following communications resources — including topline talking points, answers to tough questions, sample social media posts and graphics — can help you answer questions about COVID-19 vaccine booster doses and support your local vaccination outreach.

Building the Behavior Change Toolkit: Designing and Testing a Nudge and a Boost

ArticlePrint

Changing behavior is challenging, so behavioral scientists and designers better have a large toolkit. Nudges—subtle changes to the choice environment that don’t remove options or offer a financial incentive—are perhaps the most widely used tool. But they’re not the only tool.

More recently, researchers have advocated a different type of behavioral intervention: boosting. In contrast to nudges, which aim to change behavior through changing the environment, boosts aim to empower individuals to better exert their own agency.

Digitized COVID-19 Training for Health Workers

Digital ToolTraining/Education

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic UNICEF, with the help of funding from Johnson & Johnson, US Centers of Disease Control and the Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), has sourced and digitzed a health worker training content library that can be deployed on a variety of digital channels, including SMS, Social Media Messaging Apps (i.e., WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Viber, Telegram), and other app-based learning management systems.

This resource will equip frontline health workers with the knowledge and skills needed to continue to provide preventative and promotive community services, to conduct risk communication and community engagement, and to support community-based surveillance. Health workers on the ground are supported with accurate and digestible messaging that they can readily deploy in their communities.

Campaign to mobilise youth in fight against COVID-19

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The Ministry of Youth Affairs, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and its partner organisation YuWaah, with the support of over 950 coalition partners, has launched a pan-India campaign called #YoungWarrior to engage young people across the country to address the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and to keep their families and neighbourhoods safe.

Answers to Tough Questions about Public Health

Fact SheetPrint

This section is an ongoing compilation of tough questions related to COVID-19, with suggested answers. Many of these topics are sensitive and often politicized. The document is designed to provide message guidance and framing for public health officials and others, and it is regularly updated to reflect new developments and emerging issues.

The Impact of Trust and Risk Perception on the Acceptance of Measures to Reduce COVID-19 Cases

PrintReports and Studies

People with high general trust perceive less risks associated with COVID-19 compared with people who have low general trust, and people with high social trust perceive more risks compared with people who have low social trust.

Nepalese Youth Helpline

PrintSBC Materials

This poster lists a phone number for youth in Nepal to call if they need assistance with matters related to COVID-19. It also lists various COVID-19 symptoms and inspirational quotes.

Response to COVID-19, a practical guide for schools

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The development of this practical guide is part of the response to Covid-19 in schools and schools. This work was coordinated by DCMS / MEN, in partnership with SNEIPS / MSAS, Atelier FONS and USAID / Breakthrough Action. This guide, which is intended to be a tool to support the educational community in establishing good attitudes and practices, is made up of three parts.