Faith Leaders in Public health messaging on malaria

Faiths Act project- TBFFHDP meeting 28th June 2012

Introduction/ Background

• Overall aim• Objectives

1. Reach 100,000 households with messages of malaria prevention by June 2012.

2. Demonstrate the practical impact of interfaith public health messaging.

• Why Malaria? • Why Faith leaders?

Preparation

Launch Workshop

Development of materials and tools

Involvement of partners

Support of Key Stakeholders (First

Lady of Sierra Leone)

Background literature on recent

and current projects

Model

A Malaria Faith Ambassador (MFA) is recruited and Trained

MFA trains up to 30 community volunteers Malaria Faith Champions (MFC)

MFC 1st visits 20 households to educatefamilies

MFC 2nd visits 20 households 1 month later to certify compliant households

Messaging at community events, including during

sermons & khutbahs

5 key messages of Malaria prevention

1. Sleep under insecticide treated bed net every night, giving priority to pregnant women and children under five.

2. Clean compound, clearing all rubbish mosquito breeding sites(stagnant water, tins, cans, bottles, plastic bags, old tyres, etc)

3. Encourage all pregnant women to attend antenatal care at qualified health worker and get treatment to prevent malaria.

4. Recognise signs and symptoms of malaria and seek medical attention immediately

5. Take complete dose of treatment prescribed, even if you feel better; Do not share it

Tools

MFA tool kitPicture book

Certificate/ score card Household stickers

(recently used for coverage)

Simple, practical but effective

Progress/ updates

• 240 Faith leaders trained as Malaria Faith Ambassadors

• 6, 328 community volunteers trained as Malaria Faith Champions

• 127,819 first household visits

• Over 210,000 people in wider community

Challenges/ lessons learnt

• Expectations of volunteers• Upcoming Distractions• Initial recruitment had no set

criteria• Maintaining the enthusiasm

after MFA active role• Area to cover is large• Rural vs Urban

• Demonstrating impact needs planning, strategy and collaboration

Way Forward

• Independent evaluation by IPSOS/MORI and local partner.

• Long term Sustainability • Replicating the model • Adapting the model

Conclusion

• Project has successfully harnessed messaging power of faith leaders to educate communities on malaria prevention

• Project has potential to tackle other relevant health aspects like MCH and diseases related to sanitation.

Thank you for listening

Questions?