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Objectives |
Activities
Next Steps |
Participating Countries
Guest Speakers
Final Report
(in Spanish, 13 pp, PDF, 105 Kb)
- PAHO TB Page
- WHO TB Page
- Stop TB Partnership
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Objectives
- Find out what the countries of the Region are doing in the area of social communication.
- Find out what challenges the National TB Programs (NTPs) are facing from a social-communication perspective and the impact has on their goals.
- Reach agreements on the terms and principles of social communication.
- Improve the participants' ability to plan and carry out activities.
- Identify country needs for advisory services in social communication.
- Review the Strategy Line 5 of the Regional Strategic Plan for 2005–2015.
Activities
- First day: TB control situation and communication activities
The first day of the workshop was devoted to analyzing the situation of TB programs in the Americas, the role of communications in TB control programs, and recent experiences in communications in four countries of the Region.
- Second day: Designing communication activities
The second day of the workshop was devoted to analyzing the design of communication activities. Work was mainly carried out in groups, which analyzed case studies on specific populations (indigenous populations, prisons populations, marginalized urban populations, youth) prepared by PAHO TB Control Team. Dr. Waisbord was responsible for the plenary presentations and for moderating the discussions. The purpose of the work was to carry out a hypothetical exercise to lay out and discuss stages of communication planning and to share experiences in communications.
- Third day: Review critiques on materials and discuss pending tasks
A series of materials on communication and TB provided by the participating countries were distributed among the groups for their analysis and observation. The purpose of this exercise was to apply the ideas discussed in the workshop so as to understand strengths and weaknesses in the messages in the materials and in their utilization.
The rest of the day was devoted to identifying future tasks, in order to strengthen communication activities. Participants were divided into subregional groups in order to discuss their communication needs and to produce a list of priorities for joint activities. Among the priority subjects, it is noteworthy that the participants mentioned the need for technical assistance when planning, designing, monitoring, and evaluating communication activities as well as in identifying personnel specialized in supporting the NTPs' communication activities. Another suggestion was to develop a virtual network for exchanging ideas and experiences and for reviewing of plans and materials.
Next Steps
- Form communication committee to provide the NTPs with technical assistance in design, implementation, planning, monitoring, and evaluation of communication activities.
- Conduct a survey on human resources in communication for tuberculosis control and form of a regional communicators network.
- Make country visits for the purpose of finding out and analyzing the NTSs' communication plans and activities.
- Hold training seminars for communicators from the NTPs and Ministries of Health.
- Identify funding sources for communication activities.
Participating Countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, and Peru.
Guest Speakers: Michael Luhan (WHO-Geneva), Ted Torfoss (WHO-Geneva), Ernesto Jaramillo (WHO-Geneva), Alfonso Gumucio (Communication for Social Change, Brazil), Marco Fidel Suárez (PAHO-Bolivia)and others. Workshop Facilitator: Silvio Waisbord (Academy for Educational Development / AED, Washington, DC).
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