The one-hour session on 20 October began with introductions for thematic leads and contributing organizations of the Collective Helpdesk to get to know one another. Following that, an overview of questions, testimonies and quarter 3 numbers were provided. The second half of the session was spent listening to and discussing the challenges faced by media practitioners in getting access to technical support at the country level.
Highlights:
Some of the key takeaways from the discussion included the need to identify strong networks and technical working groups in the countries and regions and connecting media practitioners to them for timely and accurate information about an outbreak.
At the global level there would be limitations in supporting with the needs on-ground, but a quick mapping of networks or experts can be a great start for information sharing. The community was encouraged to keep these challenges from the media in consideration when creating guidelines and documents
Coaching and mentoring opportunity:
The CoP invited Common Thread to present an exciting mentoring opportunity through their new Call for Change in Kenya. Common Thread is seeking experts who are available to coach and mentor local organizations that are working on strengthening the country’s health system. The flexible opportunities for mentoring include:
Virtual introduction of potential mentors during the workshop on 8 November (if possible or through an email introduction or directory)
Coaching support during the Request for Proposal preparations
Supporting the selection of the proposals
Coaching for winning proposals starting January 2023
An ongoing outbreak of monkeypox was confirmed on 6 May 2022, beginning with a British resident who, after travelling to Nigeria (where the disease is endemic), presented symptoms consistent with monkeypox on 29 April 2022. The resident returned to the United Kingdom on 4 May, creating the country’s index case of the outbreak.
The epidemic has since spread and as of 19 of October 2022, there are 109 affected countries according to WHO.
In the past five months since the beginning of the epidemic, a number of reports surveying population behaviour changes have been published. As of mid October 2022, we have identified 21 – published mainly in August and September 2022.
Indicator Coverage
The four most frequently available indicators are: 1) risk perception, 2) vaccine willingness, 3) knowledge of transmission routes and symptoms, and 4) adoption of preventative measures.
Vaccine Willingness
Available surveys seem to show a higher willingness among currently exposed populations (LGBTQ+ community, men who have sex with men or MSM, healthcare workers).
Risk Perception
Similarly, the perception of risk (how likely respondents think they are to catch the disease) is higher among currently exposed populations – with the noticeable exception of MSM living with HIV which display a risk perception closer to that of the overall population. The latter finding is potentially a result of a population group already focused on preventative measures.
Knowledge
When collecting information about knowledge of this disease, we concentrate on the main symptoms (e.g. rash, fever, aches, swollen lymph nodes) and transmission routes (e.g. direct/indirect contact, sexual intercourse). These questions, however, do not seem to be asked to currently exposed populations (to a smaller extent they have been asked of HCWs).
Socio-behavioural surveys: accessible by clicking on each data point on the above graphs
Method
The researches for this socio-behavioural survey were run between October 14th and 21st, in English and French-languages and as open access publications for everyone, from around the world.
Search queries – such as “monkeypox social behaviour studies”, “monkeypox KAPs studies”, “monkeypox perception survey” with keywords such as “knowledge”, “vaccine”, “stigmatisation”, “sexual behaviours”, “men having sex with men”, “MSM ”, “LGBT” – were used to locate relevant studies.
National governments are responsible for implementing Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) as a key pillar of their respective public health response, as articulated in the International Health Regulations (2005). However, civil society at all levels, together with a multitude of others including the media and private sector, should (and often do) also support the government and its partners to fulfil this responsibility.
This guidance document designed by the Collective Service provides ways to ensure predictable, sustainable and well-functioning RCCE coordination platforms, strategies and approaches that work with the government and partners, at national, state and local levels.
An estimated 13 per cent of people in low-income countries have been vaccinated against COVID-19. Accelerating COVID-19 vaccine uptake is essential if countries are to achieve the WHO target of 70 per cent vaccination coverage. COVID-19 vaccine supply is no longer a major challenge; however, low risk perception of COVID-19 in light of easing of pandemic related restrictions by governments, coupled with other competing health and economic priorities, has resulted in a decline in vaccination uptake. Additionally, suboptimal vaccine delivery strategies, low confidence in vaccines, lack of trust in health systems and authorities, and the absence of COVID-19 vaccination as a social norm present significant barriers to achieving higher uptake. Addressing this requires political leadership and effective approaches to build vaccine demand in high-risk and vulnerable communities.
To intensify support for priority countries, WHO, UNICEF, GAVI and international partners, including the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the World Bank, have launched the COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery Partnership (CoVDP). The CoVDP works with governments and NGOs to devise and deliver evidence-based strategies informed by local data. To characterize and catalogue innovative, promising, and proven demand interventions, a virtual meeting was held on 22 and 23 June 2022, co-hosted by UNICEF; the Ministry of Health, Ethiopia; and the Government of Canada; in collaboration with the CoVDP and the global Vaccine Confidence Task Team (VCTT). The event featured a high-level roundtable attended by Ministers of Health, representatives from global and regional agencies and civil society organizations, and was complemented by technical sessions focused on four areas: behaviourally informed interventions, capacity strengthening to improve service quality, misinformation, and community engagement.
Case studies explored diverse approaches to bring services closer to priority populations; the importance of formative research to inform context-specific interventions; the value of consulting and co-creating interventions with communities; and the importance of engaging in two-way conversations, including through community volunteers, women’s groups, SMS communication and community radio programming. Increasing COVID-19 vaccination rates remains an urgent task, and progress is possible where there is strong political will. The event illustrated the power of peer-to-peer learning to inspire effective approaches to solving shared problems in the field of vaccine demand.
UNICEF is looking for talented professionals for the AAP (Accountability for Affected Population) consultancies. See below opportunities and apply now!
Discover UNICEF Consultancies
Home-Based Consultancy to develop and implement the workplan of the IASC AAP Task Force workstream on capacity strengthening (210 working days between Nov 2022 to Oct 2023) – EMOPS, Geneva, Switzerland
Home-Based Individual Contractor to support country offices and clusters in the roll-out of the UNICEF AAP strategy (8 months; November 2022 to June 2023) – EMOPS, Geneva, Switzerland
Individual Consultancy: Mapping of Community-focused Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) systems in the north of Mozambique – Maputo, Mozambique
Join our community! Subscribe to the Collective Service mailing list to stay informed about our community initiatives during emergencies and crises.
07MAY
Community Protection Partners Meeting: communities at the center of managing health emergencies
12:00 – 16:00 CET
In 2023, WHO Member States endorsed a proposal from the WHO Director General for a strengthened Health Emergency Preparedness, Response and Resilience (HEPR) global architecture. Community Protection is a core part of this framework. Delivering community protection means putting people and communities that are affected by an emergency at the centre of decisions and actions aimed at protecting their health and well-being. It covers three integrated areas of work:
1. Technical approaches that involve and engage with those affected, including community engagement, risk communication and infodemic management to guide priority actions and strengthen community resilience.
2. Population and environmental public health interventions to control outbreaks and mitigate their effects on the health of those affected.
3. Multisectoral action to account for and mitigate social and economic impacts of emergencies and their responses.
Hosted by the Community Readiness and Resilience Unit, Country Readiness Strengthening Department of WHO Health Emergency Program, this event will bring together global to local networks of multilateral organisations, partner agencies, civil society organizations and others that work with communities that are at-risk of or affected by public health emergencies. Through a series of presentation and moderated panel discussions, this meeting will
– Review good practice and progress to date on advancing community-centred health emergency management as enabled by diverse stakeholders across the ecosystem of partners and other agencies that deliver on this agenda.
– Review good practice, challenges, and key actions for advancing community protection.
– Discuss modalities for collaboration and partnership and strengthen the network of networks for community protection.
A key outcome is to define progress, gaps, and priorities for action in delivering strengthened community protection outcomes.
