Category: PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Divi Gani (Latvia)I’M GROWING UP BIG, STRONG AND HEALTHY!The Latvian Pediatric Clinical University Hospital, SIA “Merck Serono”

Summary

There can be various reasons why a person is short. Not all of them can be treated, but there are many diagnoses which can change the destiny of a child if they are made before the child becomes a teenager. The Latvian Paediatric Clinical University Hospital has been implementing the campaign “I’m Growing Up Big, Strong and Healthy!” in order to ensure that a lack of information, biases, or a lack of will among parents do not cause a reason to regret that a child is short:

Reminding parents that they must regularly monitor their children’s growth indicators Educating parents about relevant problems and associated treatments Popularising the www.esaugu.lv homepage and its anthropometric calculator Increasing the timely diagnosis of problems related to growth

The challenge for the campaign was to address the target audience so that the medical aspects of the campaign did not lead people to turn away or ignore the received message, instead encouraging them to make sure that the child’s height and weight were in line with his or her age.

The strategic plan for the campaign was based on four basic areas:

Visible events (a project at the Rīga Zoo, a fashion show of apparel made of wood) Information and education via high-quality thematic articles (10 articles, patient stories, etc.) Close partnerships with so-called mommy portals on the Internet (projects with Maminuklubs.lv, Calis.lv,

Mammamuntetiem.lv, 7ya.lv, etc.) Close partnerships with doctors throughout Latvia (information about Esaugu.lv for general physicians, paediatric

endocrinologists, etc.)

Evaluation of the activities of the campaign involved such issues as the number of visits to paediatric endocrinologists at the paediatric hospital, the number of diagnoses, the number of visitors to the homepage, the average amount of time spent browsing the page, statistics from the anthropometric calculator, the number of questions posed to a specialist on the Esaugu.lv homepage, the number of visits to public events, the number of votes, and the number of people who read publications on the Internet.

The effectiveness of the campaign is characterised by the fact that endocrinologists at the Paediatric Clinical University Hospital diagnosed growth problems for 52 children during the course of just one month thanks to the tree apparel fashion show aimed at encouraging children to grow up big, strong and healthy. Before the campaign began, there were only some 100 or so diagnoses of this type each year.

Situation

Some 20,000 children are born in Latvia each year, and an average of 100 of them have so far been diagnosed with growth difficulties each year. According to epidemiological studies, the minimal number of diagnoses in this segment of the population should be 500, and that indicates insufficient diagnostics, as opposed to an absence of the problem. Paediatric endocrinologists believe that timely diagnosis of growth problems are usually based on a lack of information among parents, because the sooner growth and development problems are diagnosed, the more likely it is that they can be treated so as to ensure that the child’s height and weight is within normal range. Delays in growth have an effect not just on height, but also on metabolism and other aspects of the child’s development. Fears, biases, or the assumption that a child is short because his or her parents are short – these must not be reasons to refuse to discuss the child’s development with a doctor!

Objectives

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Category: PUBLIC AFFAIRS

The objectives of the campaign:

Reminding parents that they must regularly monitor their children’s growth indicators Educating parents about relevant problems and associated treatments Popularising the www.esaugu.lv homepage and its anthropometric calculator Increasing the timely diagnosis of problems related to growth

The target audience: Parents with children under the age of 16

Stakeholders: The Paediatric Clinical University Hospital, with 21 hospitals all over Latvia becoming involved as informational supporters

Research: Before launching the campaign, there were discussions with leading paediatric endocrinologists and with a focus group of 14 parents to learn about the situation with diagnoses in Latvia, as well as about the level of information and biases among parents when it comes to the growth and development of children. The conversations were facilitated and information was identified from “mommy portals” such as Maminuklubs.lv, Calis.lv, Mammam.lv, Mansmazais.lv, and 7ya.lv.

Strategy

The objective of the campaign was to interest people in the issue, educate them and popularise the matter, and there were four strategic directions in this:

Using visible events to ensure public attention to growth problems Providing regular public information about growth problems with the help of the media (stories from patients,

articles about diagnoses, etc.) Ensuring a close partnership with so-called mommy portals to reach the target audience Involving endocrinologists and general physicians from all over Latvia in the process

Evaluation of the activities of the campaign involved such issues as the number of visits to paediatric endocrinologists at the paediatric hospital, the number of diagnoses, the number of visitors to the homepage, the average amount of time spent browsing the page, statistics from the anthropometric calculator, the number of questions posed to a specialist on the Esaugu.lv homepage, the number of visits to public events, the number of votes, and the number of people who read publications on the Internet.

Execution

The “Grow Big, Strong and Healthy!” campaign was implemented on the basis of a tactical plan which was changed and amended after the results of the first year of activities were examined.

Partnerships with portals:

Establishment of forums about the growth and development of children on so-called mommy portals (early 2011) A monthly partnership project with Maminuklubs.lv and Maminklub.lv with 170,000 unique users during the

month (April 2011) A partnership with the Mammamuntetiem.lv portal (articles, links, etc., 280,000 unique users during the month

(April 2011) An Esaugu.lv profile on the Draugiem.lv social portal, with letters being delivered to parents (April 2012)

Partnerships with specialists:

A letter to 21 hospitals to ask for their involvement in the campaign and for the posting of Esaugu.lv posters at the hospitals (early 2011)

Presentation of Esaugu.lv business cards by family physicians, as well as a form to record growth indicators for parents (from the beginning of 2011)

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Category: PUBLIC AFFAIRS Answers given by endocrinologists at the paediatric hospital to questions posted on Esaugu.lv (throughout the

campaign)

A project at the Rīga Zoo:

An opportunity to weigh and measure children and to receive a form to record growth indicators, with the measurements being taken by endocrinology nurses from the paediatric hospital (27 August 2011, 8 September 2012)

The fashion show of tree apparel at the Vērmaņdārzs Park in Rīga (4 August 2012):

The tree apparel was produced by seven Latvian artists and groups of artists. The apparel was on display at the Vērmaņdārzs Park until August 17, 2012, and votes on the favourite apparel were accepted on the Esaugu.lv portal until September 4, 2012. The jury included well known artists such as Natālija Jansone and Santa Didžus, the businessman Gatis Kokins, and the parliamentary secretary of the Latvian Health Ministry. Since August 17, the tree apparel can be seen at the Paediatric Clinical University Hospital, and it delights young patients there

Thematic articles about diagnoses related to the growth and development of children (e.g., a deficit of growth hormones, the Turner Syndrome, etc.), published on mommy portals and leading Internet sites:

o Four diagnoses in 2011o Six diagnoses in 2012

Regular media relationships involving news releases about the project and its results.

Documented Results

The number of visits to paediatric endocrinologists at the hospital: 6720 in 2011, 9858 in 2012 The number of diagnoses during the campaign period: 342 in 2011, and 528 in 2012. The result of the fashion

show of tree apparel led to the diagnosis of growth problems for more than 50 children in just one month at the Paediatric Clinical University Hospital, whereas prior to the campaign, there had been only some 100 diagnoses per year

The number of hits on the homepage: 32 684 in 2011, 58 790 in 2012 The average amount of time spent on the homepage: 2min in 2011, 3min 15s in 2012 Statistics from the anthropometric calculator: 28 159 in 2011, 42 850 in 2012 Questions posed to specialists on the Esaugu.lv homepage: 15 001 in 2011, 21 782 in 2012 Number of public events and votes:

Events at the Rīga Zoo: Number of children weighed and measured in 2011: almost 500 Number of children weighed and measured in 2012: more than 200 Votes on tree apparel: more than 14 000 Number of readers of thematic articles on the Internet: more than 153 000

As far as paediatric endocrinologists at the hospital are concerned, the goals of the campaign were fully achieved, as seen in the increasing number of consultations, as well as the number of parents who posed questions about paediatric growth problems on the Esaugu.lv homepage. The result was a substantial improvement in the diagnosis of problems with paediatric growth in Latvia.

Baltic PR Awards 2012