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WHO/ ADB GREATER MEKONG SUB-REGION RBM
IEC PROJECT
Roll Back Malaria is a global initiative that was
launched in 1998 to fight against the global malaria burden. In 1999 RBM was
adopted in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) and in 2002 the Asian Development
Bank (ADB) agreed to support the RBM IEC Project through the World Health
Organization (WHO) to enhance malaria control and prevention among remote and
hard to reach populations in the GMS member countries, namely Cambodia, China-Yunnan,
Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. The goal of the project is to
improve the health status of poor and vulnerable population groups in the GMS
by reducing morbidity and mortality due to malaria. The project objectives
are to develop user-friendly IEC materials and guidelines focusing on poor
and vulnerable populations at risk of malaria; to enhance national capacity
in community-based intervention for malaria prevention and control; and to
make national malaria control programmes more
responsive to the needs of the target communities. The project time-frame was
from 01 November 2002 through 31 December 2004.
Initially a technical consultation workshop was
organized to identify ethnic groups and partners, and to revise the project
plan of action to suit the objectives and project duration. National teams
conducted malaria and IEC situation analyses to further identify ethnic
groups and local partners to implement IEC development activities. After
project objectives were set and target populations selected, IEC
developmental activities, such as information gathering and local training
began.
A training workshop on field research and baseline data
collection was organized in June 2003. The national RBM IEC teams gained
knowledge on participatory field research and developed research tools based
on developed protocols. Personnel able to speak ethnic languages were
recruited and trained to assist field data collection. Next, a six-day
training workshop on participatory IEC materials development was organized. A
key success of the workshop was identifying key messages and appropriate
communication channels for IEC materials. Each country developed plans for
IEC development including specific behaviour
objectives, clear messages and communication channels, and specific types of
materials to be developed.
Countries developed their IEC materials through a
participatory approach by organizing various workshops and involving
different target groups and community members. A wide variety of IEC
materials were developed including inter-active pictorial
cards, flipcharts, and audio and video
visual materials. All prototypes were pre-tested and revised to best meet the
needs of the local situation.
A final advisory committee meeting was held in Hanoi in November 2004 share project
implementation experiences and IEC packages with all the GMS countries. All
country teams found the participatory approach to be an effective method that
produced appropriate materials and even though more tome and effort is
needed. It was the first time for all the IEC country teams to use this
participatory method. Some materials can be shared across borders where the
same ethnic groups lives, for example in Yunnan and Myanmar.
The project raised awareness among ethnic minority
populations especially though information dissemination of the monthly
“Mekong Roll Back Malaria IEC Project News”, established in April 2003. The
newsletter aims to provide regular information related to malaria control and
project implementation to all relevant stakeholders and emphasizes ethnic and
hard-to-reach populations.
The Mekong IEC project is a unique initiative not only
because it targets hard to reach and marginalized minority but also it adopts
a participatory approach for IEC development and malaria control. After two
years of project implementation, IEC materials and packages have been drafted
and spin-off initiatives including anthropological and sociological research
have been conducted.
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