COVID-19: Amref highlights key achievements as Phase 2 of behavioural change campaign nears end

Amref Health Africa underscored the top achievements in the second phase of the Hygiene Behavioural Change Coalition (HBCC), which was launched in August 2022 to continue increasing awareness of preventive and control measures against Covid-19.

Phase II, which focused on three East African countries of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, was only rolled out in Kampala and Wakiso here.

During a Wednesday meeting with partners held at Fairway Hotel in Kampala, Eng. Mutwalib Walude – the project manager of HBCC – said they aimed at reaching 6.5 million people in Uganda “by implementing activities geared towards mitigating long-term effects of Covid-19” on the country’s public health.

Regionally, the aim was to get to about 75 million people.

Phase II, which was funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and Unilever, was able to reach over six million people through TV campaigns, over eight million through radio and 10 million plus impressions were hit through digital platforms, which also saw an engagement of over 1.1 million, according to Eng. Walude.

The awareness campaigns held during this phase were extended to 16820 households in Kampala and Wakiso.

Population Services International (PSI) was also an implementing partner and, according to Grace Nakazzi Lubega, the behavioural change coordinator at PSI, working with media in Kampala, Gulu, Moroto and Kapchorwa – they promoted vaccination awareness and ran campaigns on hygiene improvement, reaching one million plus people through radio and 4.5 million through social media.

Away from the above-mentioned media, they also erected billboards, conducted door-to-door campaigns, public address systems, documentaries, meetings, and so on.

Phase II aimed to promote hygiene and public health, and social measures by reaching vulnerable populations through media.

The above was executed by tackling behaviour fatigue so as to refresh public commitment with its innovative and engaging campaign materials, strengthening existing health systems for sustained hygiene and prevention and control of COVID-19, and highlighting the importance of ramping up vaccine intake.

They also supported WASH access and spearheaded institutionalisation of hygiene in national health agendas.

All that was done with help from religious and cultural leaders, women, youths, market and Boda Boda leaders, PWDs, etc.

Speaking at the event, Comfort Hajra Mukasa, the program manager of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) at Amref Health Africa in Uganda thanked the social media influencers and Pulse Africa (Uganda and Kenya) for efforts in spreading information.

Professor Myriam Sidibe, the founder of Brands on a Mission, who also chairs the National Business Compact on Coronavirus, called on partners to look into how such coalitions can help in dealing with other diseases like cervical cancer, health issues affecting young women and young girls, optimising the emerging technologies like AI and combining on ground and digital work.

Lilian Kamanzi Mugisha, the communications and fundraising manager at Amref in Uganda, said that idea to work with media was conceived after learning in Phase I that there was a need to reach more people to have a huge impact.

In Phase II, some of the key challenges were delayed implementation due to slow procurement and contract processes, Ebola broke out during implementation so some funds had to be diverted and there was also miscommunication of critical messages.

Phase II will end on March 31 and partners are still deliberating on how to execute better in the next round.

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