|
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
Social Mobilization |
|
| New York Complements
Pakistan on a Job well done |
| During the second
week of June a Mid Annual Communications Conference took
place in New York. The conference mainly covered Polio, but
also looked into matter regarding EPI, surveillance and
training issues. The objectives of the meeting were to: |
- Finish Polio by increasing social mobilization and
communication activities
- Transition from only Polio to EPI.
- Develop concrete mechanisms to deal with Polio
eradication
- Define priorities, roles and needs.
- What particular activities need to be taken: Advocacy,
Funding, and Avoiding fatigue.
|
| On the first day
Pakistan presented its successes, lessons learnt and the
future plans. The members of the conference were highly
impressed by the 90% awareness level and the creativity in
its communications endeavors. The high-risk area plan was
also appreciated and they felt that with this kind of
efforts, Pakistan would soon be Polio free. However, they
felt that it was time now for Pakistan to concentrate on
that last 10% of not only hard to reach, but also hard to
change communities. There was a need to adopt a fire
fighting approach and create a sense of urgency among the
public about the eradication of Polio. Answering the
question of funding gaps, the international community
suggested that Pakistan work towards local fund raising
efforts and develops private sector partnerships. Pakistan
has been promised a lot of support by the international
partners. With this support and the solid social
mobilization and communication |
| Meeting of Provincial health
education Advisors |
| A meeting of the
provincial Health Education Advisors was held in Islamabad
for the to review existing social mobilization and
communication plan and strategies being implemented at the
provincial level. The second half of the meeting required
the participants to develop coordination mechanism and
tentative plans and activities for their respective
provinces. They were asked to make the "Integrated Yearlong
Communication Plan" - a document developed at the federal
level for federal, provincial and district level
communication activities - their basis while thinking about
future actions. At the end of the sessions, it was apparent
that, unfortunately, there was no uniformity in the
coordination mechanisms devised by the provinces; hence the
provinces were requested to follow the mechanics used at the
federal level. Lack of HEOs and lack of involvement of HEOs
was another major issue. The Federal Director General,
Health promised to personally see to the matter and send out
letters to provincial head advising them to involve HEOs. It
was also decided that similar meetings would take place
after every round. The provinces were also asked submit
their plans and schedules at lease two weeks in advance to
the campaigns to avoid duplication of effort. All in all,
the meeting was a big step towards building better
coordination between the federal communication committee and
the provincial counterparts. It was also a venue for
addressing the problems and difficulties faced by the
provinces and realize the, at times, adverse conditions that
they worked in. It was felt that the provinces were doing a
good job of conducting social mobilization activities in
their regions. However, this last stage of Polio eradication
requires strengthened efforts and more intensive activities
with regards to social mobilization and communications. |
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
