The Soul Beat 216 - Communication for Tuberculosis Prevention and Treatment
In this issue of The Soul Beat:
- TB CAMPAIGNS using sport, ICTs, and drama...
- Celebrating WORLD TB DAY...
- Using MOBILES AND SOCIAL MOBILISATON for TB prevention and treatment...
- RESOURCES AND TOOLS for the media and TB advocates...
World TB Day, falling on March 24 each year, is designed to create public awareness around the fact that tuberculosis (TB) today remains an epidemic in much of the world, causing the deaths of nearly one-and-a-half million people each year, mostly in developing countries. It commemorates the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch announced he had discovered the cause of tuberculosis, the TB bacillus. This issue of the Soul Beat e-newsletter features TB campaign and project experiences, as well as strategic thinking documents, and resources and tools related to TB prevention and treatment.
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1. Kick TB Campaign - South Africa
Launched in December 2009, Kick TB is a South African based international awareness campaign designed to unite people in the fight against tuberculosis and HIV, focusing on young, school-going children. The South African National Department of Health in partnership with the Desmond Tutu TB Centre at the Stellenbosch University launched the campaign under the banner "Let’s play, let’s learn, let's save lives!" The campaign uses football as a means to reach out to school children, and uses activation teams visiting schools throughout the country who give each child an illustrated, match quality soccer ball with a strong TB/HIV awareness message.
2. Stop TB By Using Interactive Mobile Communication - Uganda
The African Medical Research Foundation (AMREF) and Text to Change are collaborating to use mobile-based strategies, such as quizzes, short awareness messages, and medicine adherence reminders, to promote health awareness and education about TB. The goal of the project is to reduce mortality rates and the transmission of tuberculosis in Wakiso, Kiboga, Luwero, and Kyankwanzi Districts of Central Uganda by 2013. AMREF has traditionally carried out TB interventions in communities through drama and films. Recognising that Uganda has an overall teledensity of 41% and mobile network coverage of 90%, in 2012 the organisation partnered with Text to Change to use mobile technology to improve uptake of health care, encourage behavioural change, and increase medicine adherence.
3. Drama Sets the Stage for Clinical Research in Adolescents - South Africa
This project evaluates the use of drama to improve African adolescents' insight into TB and TB vaccine development, clinical research, and their rights and responsibilities as trial participants. As part of its community engagement for a phase IIb TB vaccine efficacy trial in almost 3,000 infants in the Worcester area of the Western Cape, the South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative (SATVI) developed a comic - "Carina's Choice" - which led to the decision by a local drama school to dramatise the comic in 2011 using high school pupils as performers, stage managers, and light and sound engineers.
4. Patient-Centered TB Treatment in Tanzania - Tanzania
Launched in 2005, the Patient-Centered TB Treatment (PCT) approach is designed to ensure adherence to TB treatment, while also alleviating pressures on health care workers and patient time and resources. PCT gives patients the choice to either take the daily treatment at a health facility, supervised by a medical professional, or at home, supported by a family or community member. The approach is a collaboration between Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development (NFSD), and the National TB and Leprosy Programme of the Tanzanian Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.
5. We Beat TB Campaign - South Africa
This campaign sought to combat TB in South Africa through multi-media and community level interventions, using radio, television, and outdoor advertisements featuring dancing cartoon characters to communicate information about TB prevention and treatment. The campaign was developed by Johns Hopkins Health and Education in South Africa (JHHESA), as part of the TB South Africa programme being led by University Research Co., LLC (URC). We Beat TB is an advocacy, communication, and social mobilisation campaign designed to support URC’s work to strengthen TB initiatives at the national, provincial, and district levels, as well as strengthen the health system to manage the pressures exerted by the HIV and AIDS epidemic.
6. Enhancing Community Engagement in TB Research and Communication in Uganda
This project aimed to increase the relevance and use of TB research by promoting engagement and dialogue among the various stakeholders in TB work in Uganda. The 1-year project, launched in 2011 by Panos Eastern Africa (PEA) with Wellcome Trust funding, also worked to increase information on TB in the public domain. By generating exposure for existing research, the project hoped to encourage further research on TB. Public engagement methods were used to highlight TB research in Uganda, as well as to promote engagement, dialogue, and debate. These included participatory rural radio debates, community dialogues, media fellowships, and forums. PEA worked with TB researchers, the media, academia, civil society organisations (CSOs), government policymakers, and the general public.
7. La Bohème Abanxaxni Theatre Production - South Africa
Launched in February 2012, La Bohème Abanxaxni is a South African adaptation of Puccini’s famous opera about dying from TB. Originally set amongst the struggling artist community in 1930s Paris, the South African production staged by Isango Ensemble is set in the streets of Khayelithsa on June 16, South Africa’s Youth Day. The production is a partnership between the Isango Ensemble, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the Desmond Tutu TB Centre.
For more information about what's being done to celebrate World TB Day globally, visit the World TB Day website.
STRATEGIC THINKING AROUND TB AND COMMUNICATION
8. The Role of mHealth in the Fight against Tuberculosis
This paper, published in July 2012 by the Stop TB Partnership and the mHealth Alliance, showcases the potential of mobile technologies for TB, explores some applications, and seeks to catalyse the conversation about mobile health (mHealth) within the TB community. It lists five areas in which mHealth is starting to have an impact on TB care and control: treatment adherence, monitoring TB diagnosis and treatment, mobile diagnosis, disease surveillance, and health awareness and information dissemination.
9. Advocacy, Communication and Social Mobilization for Tuberculosis Control: Collection of Country-Level Good Practices
Published in January 2010, the purpose of this document is to highlight examples of the fifth component of the Stop TB Strategy: "Empower people with TB, and communities through partnership." It contains 16 "good practice examples of country-level Advocacy, Communication and Social Mobilization (ACSM)....By sharing good practices, other implementing partners will hopefully be able to learn from, replicate and enhance the activities detailed in these pages." The document was assembled by the ACSM Core Group of the Stop TB Partnership from the World Health Organization.
10. AIDucation 20-10: Taking Control of TB
By Edwin Mavunika Mapara
This book, published in November 2010, is about TB, HIV infections, and AIDS education (AIDucation). According to the author, it is designed to teach about HIV infections, TB infections, and AIDS as public health disasters; inform, educate, and empower people to run AIDS awareness and TB control programmes; help reduce procrastination and denial associated with AIDS and TB; and motivate readers to fight stigma and discrimination in their local communities.
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RESOURCES AND TOOLS FOR TB MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL
11. Community-Based Tuberculosis Prevention and Care: Why and How to Get Involved - An International Handbook for Nongovernmental Organizations and Civil Society Organizations
This document, published by CORE Group in January 2013, is designed to serve as a handbook, or primer, for non governmental organisations or civil society organisations (CSOs) that are considering joining the fight against TB. It provides information on TB and how it is prevented, diagnosed, and treated, how TB programmes work on the ground, how communities and CSOs can get involved, and special populations that need extra attention. Step-by-step guidance on getting started in addressing TB, pitfalls to avoid, and a list of useful resources are included.
12. Champions Against Tuberculosis - A Practical Guide to Collaborative Partnership with National Celebrities
Published by Stop TB Partnership in November 2012, this handbook is designed to provide guidance on how to engage celebrities and benefit from their support. The intended audience is mainly public health professionals who have no access to specialists in celebrity and events management. The objective is to share the experience gained while working with current Goodwill Ambassadors and Champions against tuberculosis.
13. A Media Guide on Reporting Tuberculosis Research and Related Issues in Uganda
This guide, published in June 2012, is designed to support the media in their role of social mobilisation, policy advocacy, awareness creation, and community engagement for TB management and control. It provides information on key and current TB research and related issues in Uganda, as well as guidance on the role the media can play in sharing and engaging voices of the public on these issues.
14. Working with the Media: How to Make Your Messages on Tuberculosis Count
Published in July 2009, the aim of this handbook is to bridge the gap between the science community and public on TB issues. It provides national TB programmes and partners globally with tools and the confidence to help spread messages about TB prevention, symptoms, and treatment based on science. People are encouraged to act on them by cultivating relationships with the public through media. The Stop TB Partnership hopes that this resource will help personnel feel more comfortable, better equipped, and keen to reach out to the media with key messages about the need to address TB. The handbook covers the planning and execution of media outreach from thinking about goals to attracting media attention. Tips and suggestions for developing key messages, handling interviews, writing news releases, and calling journalists are also included.
15. TB/MDR-TB Advocacy Tool Kit
By Sheila Davie, Renato Pinto, and Becky Owens
This tool kit draws on experience of TB advocacy in the United Kingdom and abroad, and includes lessons learned in the field by the Advocacy Partnership, as well as desk-review. The purpose is to complement ongoing advocacy trainings delivered by the Advocacy Partnership and to be a resource for future in-country trainings. Designed for TB advocates and stakeholders, nurses, community workers, people and communities infected and affected by TB, and HIV/AIDS activists, the toolkit is intended to be a resource to help strengthen advocacy skills of TB stakeholders and their ability to design and deliver campaigns.
16. Behavior Change Communication and Social Mobilisation Guidelines
By Professor Harry Hausler and Caroline Wills
This guide was produced by Tuberculosis (TB) South Africa in March 2007 to build the capacity of managers to strengthen district- and facility-level programmes to plan and implement effective TB/HIV social mobilisation strategies. It is intended to be a practical resource to assist those wishing to plan and implement appropriate and effectively managed social mobilisation processes in their communities, focusing on information about how to plan, implement, and evaluate a social mobilisation process to reach communities affected by TB. This process includes establishing goals and objectives, conducting a situation analysis including a stakeholder analysis, establishing partnerships, developing a budgeted plan of activities, mobilising resources for the plan, and monitoring and evaluating the plan.
SOUL BEAT E-NEWSLETTER ARCHIVES
See these previous e-newsletters related to Tuberculosis:
The Soul Beat 193 - Tuberculosis and Communication
To view ALL past editions of The Soul Beat e-newsletter, click here.
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