Experts Share Three Years of Experience in Avian Influenza Behavior Change and Communication

Cape Town, South Afirca
June 25 - 27 2008

The USAID-funded behavior change and communication activities for avian influenza - AI.COMM and AI-BCC - managed by AED convened the Global Communication Leadership Meeting for communication professionals and donor partners in Cape Town, South Africa on 25 June. The dual purpose of the meeting was to share and learn from country and regional experiences and to synthesize these experiences to better plan and implement prevention, control and response communications to avian and pandemic influenzas.

The attendees of the meeting - in addition to AED's technical professionals included officials from USAID, UNICEF, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and OCHA - focused on vexing issues in the prevention and control of avian influenza: how to slow the spread of AI across borders and how to change behaviors and practices when there are economic and social disincentives to do so. Planning pandemic influenza communication and designing an AI framework were major outcomes of the event.

The Leadership Meeting also debut a show reel - a four-minute look at AI.COMM and AI-BCC's communication activities - and a poster exhibition highlighting country and program successes from around the world. The poster exhibition was accompanied by a catalog that included the posters and brief write up on the activity. The video, poster exhibition, and presentations from the meeting can be downloaded here: http://avianflu.aed.org/globalmeeting.html

Ghana: Emergency Communication Workshop

USAID's AI.COMM with its Ghana partners the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and the National Avian Influenza Communications Subcommittee conducted the first emergency communication workshop in Tema, Ghana May 13-15 to design response plans that could be used during a pandemic, natural disaster, or humanitarian emergencies. Emergency Communication Guide will be posted on the web in early June.

New outbreak response posters developed for Laos

Five new avian influenza outbreak response posters developed for Laos are now available in Lao and English on the Emergency Communication Tools page of the web site.

The posters are:

Don't Spread Avian Influenza
English, Lao

Keep it Clean
English, Lao

Separate Your Poultry
English, Lao

Dispose of Dead Birds Properly
English, Lao

Watch Out for Avian Influenza
English, Lao

WHO Map showing H5N1 outbreaks since 2003

Map of world areas reporting confirmed occurence of H5N1 avian influenza in poultry and wild birds since 2003, status as of March 3, 2008. Source: WHO. Full size version can be viewed here.

USAID South Asia Avian Influenza Partners Meeting

USAID South Asia Avian Influenza Partners met in New Delhi, India on January 16 and 17, 2008 for the first regional meeting. Focus of the meeting was on prevention and outbreak response in India, Bangladesh, and Nepal. Attendees were from USAID missions, FAO, WHO, and USAID-funded projects, StopAI and AI.COMM.

Presentations from the meeting are available below in PDF format:

• AI.COMM Overview


• Country Presentations:
  
  • Bangladesh
  • Laos
  • Nepal
  • Vietnam

Notes and photos from Ghana Holiday Activities

I wanted to send along our holiday pictures, which show some of the social mobilization and community-based communication activities we've been doing in Ghana. We've been working with the Ghana AI Communications Sub-Committee on an emergency communication plan. We're working in 5 districts--Brong Ahafo, Volta, Ashanti, Eastern and Greater Accra and our partners, in addition to the sub-committee, include Ghana Red Cross, Ghana Vet Services, National Association of Poultry Farmers, EXP Momentum, and Ogilvy. In December, 196 Red Cross volunteers were trained in interpersonal communications and then went farm-to-farm and to markets to share key AI prevention messages with the general public. This community-based communication was reinforced by two radio adverts with messages on basic hygiene, confinement, and separation.

Just before Christmas, when many people give poultry as gifts, we put together additional field activities in the same regions. This time, social mobilizers from local organizations; Prolink and CEDIC, visited all of the key poultry and egg sections in markets in regional capitals. The teams talked to market sellers and visitors, sharing with them good practices to stay healthy and to prevent AI. The teams handed out flyers with optimal behaviors as reminders. Overall, the field teams reached over 27,000 people during this busy week before Christmas.

Hope you have a happy new year and we'll share more pictures later in the year.

Nichola Peach
AI.COMM/Ghana team

ePlume: Interactive Listserv on Avian Influenza in West Africa

West Africa is the focal point for HPAI and thus has distinct communications needs from the rest of the world. As an online discussion group, ePlume brings together French and English speaking experts to share up-to-date information, knowledge, and experiences on avian influenza in West Africa.

Ready to jump in? Sign up for ePlume.

Still not convinced? See what members are talking about in the discussion archive. We hope you will join the conversation.