Project Example

Breakthrough ACTION Liberia: Baseline Report for Adolescents

Breakthrough ACTION is a global project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to lead social and behavior change (SBC) programs around the world. The project ignites collective action and encourages people to adopt healthier behaviors. This work harnesses the demonstrated power of communication and integrates innovative approaches from marketing science, behavioral economics, and human-centered design.

In Liberia, Breakthrough ACTION supports the increased adoption of health behaviors among individuals, families, and communities. The Breakthrough ACTION Liberia project uses an integrated health approach to promote a full suite of healthy behaviors across the areas of malaria; reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health (RMNCAH); family planning (FP); nutrition; zoonotic diseases; and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH)—all areas that have been identified as priority areas by the Liberian Ministry of Health and USAID.

This report focuses on female youth who are married/in a union and on single male and female youth. Youth refers to participants who are 15- to 19-years-old. It defines baseline levels of the priority health behaviors along with intermediate outcomes that offer the potential to affect the priority behaviors in one or more health areas, including malaria, RMNCAH, WASH, zoonotic diseases, nutrition, COVID-19, and the Global Health Security Agenda. The intermediate outcomes include couple communication, decision-making, knowledge, attitudes, and perceived norms around the priority behaviors, and patient-provider interaction experiences. In addition, the report captures the recall of Breakthrough ACTION Liberia program-related messages and describes how various demographic, psychosocial, cultural, and relational factors are associated with priority health behaviors. There are two other reports that also discuss findings gathered from the baseline study– one with baseline findings from adult men and women in Liberia and one specifically focused on family planning baseline findings for adult men and women in Liberia.

Source: Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs

Date of Publication: January 17, 2023