Integrated Health Social and Behavior Change Programming: Tools and Resources from Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria

Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria implemented an integrated health social and behavior change (SBC) strategy in four states (Bauchi, Kebbi, Sokoto, Ebonyi) and the Federal Capital Territory. This work promoted positive shifts for 17 health behaviors. Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria implemented a coordinated package of continuous community, media, and digital activities. Coordinating and reinforcing these maximized the reach and intensity of audience engagement. Each activity focused on the same behaviors and the same core messages and approaches and was informed by the results from ongoing formative research.

Community SBC and Referrals for Health Services
Working with community health volunteers, Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria implemented community SBC interventions and made referrals to health services. Community SBC activities included community health dialogues with referrals, compound meetings, and house-to-house visits.

Community Capacity Strengthening
Through an innovative adaptation of the Community Action Cycle, Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria worked hand-in-hand with Primary Health Care Development Agency staff and other key stakeholders at the state and local government levels to empower Ward Development Committees to plan, finance, and implement their own health initiatives within their communities.

Women’s Empowerment Groups
Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria used human-centered design to create Women’s Empowerment Groups. These were safe spaces outside the home, where groups of women could support each other, become economically empowered, and learn about reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health, nutrition, and malaria.

Social and Behavior Change Advocacy Core Groups
Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria facilitated SBC Advocacy Core Groups that enabled a systematic interaction and engagement of religious and traditional leaders with other opinion leaders in the health and development sectors, including government officials, community service organization representatives, women’s groups, media personnel, and other community opinion leaders. The groups were developed to influence social and gender norms.

Mass Media, Mobile Phones, and Digital
Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria implemented a wide range of transmedia interventions on radio, television, mobile phone, and social media that were co-created with the government, implementing partners, community members, and other key stakeholders. The co-creation process placed users and communities at the center of designing messages and ensured ownership of the work.

Provider Behavior Change
Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria worked closely with the federal and state governments to transform professional attitudes, norms, and standards in the areas of respectful maternity care, malaria in pregnancy, and fever case management.

Public Sector Capacity Strengthening
The project’s public sector capacity-strengthening activities were aligned in support of government priorities and strategies across national, state, and local government areas and wards. This work strengthened public sector systems for oversight and coordination of SBC at the national and sub-national levels.

Source: Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs

Date of Publication: August 13, 2024

Family Planning Sermon and Messaging Guide for Faith Communities

This guide is designed to support faith communities, congregations and religious leaders who want to improve family planning (FP) literacy and acceptance through sermons and other messaging opportunities. The sermon guide addresses how religious texts and sacred traditions can help break the silence on FP and correct misinformation. The guide addresses sacred texts and norms from Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, the Baha’i faith, and Sikhism and includes messages that can be tailored to each faith. The messages can be delivered in a variety of settings, including at worship services, faith community ceremonies, or other events.

Last modified: November 29, 2023

Language: English

Source: Christian Connections for International Health (CCIH)

Year of Publication: 2023

Message Guide for the Fight Against Malaria in Malawi

The Message Guide for the Fight Against Malaria in Malawi is an accompanying document to the National Malaria Communication Strategy 2022-2030 to operationalize malaria intervention-specific plans. The purpose of the guide is to assist in the development of standardized and focused malaria SBC materials in the following thematic areas: insecticide-treated nets (ITN), case management, intermittent preventive treatment of malaria during pregnancy (IPTp), and indoor residual spraying (IRS).

Source: Malawi Ministry of Health, Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, USAID

Date of Publication: July 28, 2023

The Malawi National Malaria Communication Strategy 2022-2030

This National Malaria Communication Strategy (NMCS) articulates the role SBC will play in the implementation of Malawi’s National Malaria Strategic Plan.

In the years since the 2017-2022 National Malaria Strategic Plan, Malawi has developed a broader set of National Health Communication guidelines, which are outlined in the HSSP III. As this overall strategy outlines how all partners are to integrate their activities and implement under the same set priorities, the new National Malaria Strategic Plan and this accompanying National Malaria Communication Strategy achieve the same goals: the facilitation of behavior change among individuals, households, and communities towards the adoption of positive health behaviors through effective communication, health promotion, interpreted health services, collaboration, evidence-based interventions, equity, social inclusion, and community empowerment and participation.

Source: Malawi Ministry of Health, Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, USAID

Date of Publication: July 28, 2023

USAID and Breakthrough ACTION R-CEFM Remedial Education Program Learning Documents

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Breakthrough ACTION Nepal’s Reducing Child, Early and Forced Marriage (Nepal R-CEFM) Project aims to strengthen the institutional and technical capacity of the Government of Nepal (GON). The project operates in Madhesh Province to design, implement, monitor, evaluate, and coordinate effective social and behavior change (SBC) activities and child protection (CP) system strengthening for reducing CEFM through a community-based, multi-sectoral, data-driven lens.

The following documents focus on R-CEFM project activities designed to increase learning outcomes for adolescent girls (with the inclusion of boys) through non-formal education.

  1. Remedial Education Program Learning in brief
  2. Remedial Education Program Infographic
  3. Quantitative Endline Assessment Report: Baseline and Endline Scores
  4. Qualitative Learning Documentation Report: Remedial Education Classes and Non-formal Approaches Used to Improve Learning Outcomes for Adolescent Girls (with the Inclusion of Boys) in Nepal
  5. Findings from a Most Significant Change assessment following the R-CEFM Project’s remedial education program
  6. Remedial Education Program Presentation

Source: Breakthrough ACTION/Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs

Date of Publication: February 8, 2023

Improving malaria surveillance through existing community structures: Lessons learnt from Ethiopia

Ethiopia has achieved a significant reduction in malaria morbidity and mortality over the past two decades. In line with Ethiopia’s Federal Ministry of Health strategic direction, Malaria Consortium has been working with existing community structures, health centres, district health offices and community levels to improve malaria case detection and surveillance. Community structures such as health extension workers and the health development army play a pivotal role in malaria case detection and surveillance when malaria service provision is disrupted, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: Malaria Consortium

Date of Publication: October 27, 2022

Implementing a community-based approach to indoor residual spraying to improve acceptance, cost-effectiveness and efficiency

In Ethiopia, malaria poses a significant threat to public health, with an estimated 52 percent of the population at risk of malaria infection. The Ministry of Health recommends campaign-based, targeted indoor residual spraying (IRS) as a key strategy for malaria prevention, control and elimination in the country. With support from the James Percy Foundation, we carried out a community-based IRS campaign in the districts of Boloso Sore and Damot Sore between March 2019 and February 2021. This learning brief captures our learning around the opportunities and challenges associated with a community-based IRS model.

Source: Malaria Consortium

Date of Publication: October 27, 2022

Using the role model approach to improve malaria prevention and control: Lessons from Ethiopia

Malaria Consortium sought to improve understanding and uptake of malaria interventions in Ethiopia by implementing the role model approach in selected target districts in Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Region. This innovative behavior change communication approach builds on the existing strengths of the community: it helps identify individuals who, despite sharing similar resources and living conditions to others in their communities, have shown unusual, but desirable, behaviors regarding malaria prevention and control that have resulted in healthy outcomes. This learning brief highlights the key results and lessons identified during implementation, and proposes recommendations. The work forms part of the three-year project Strengthening Community-based Malaria Prevention and Surveillance Interventions, Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Region (2019-2022), supported by the James Percy Foundation.

Source: Malaria Consortium

Date of Publication: October 26, 2022

COVID and KIDS: A Video Animation from Malawi

UNICEF with support from UKAid is influencing children in Malawi to practice 5 key actions to prevent COVID-19: frequent handwashing with soap, physical distancing, use of the flexed elbow when coughing and sneezing, avoiding touching the face (mouth, nose and eyes) and staying at home.

Source: UNICEF, UK AID

Date of Publication: September 30, 2021