Mass mobilization

27 October 2015

Increasing public awareness with handy information products

Various measures were taken to increase public awareness during the epidemic of influenza H1N1 in Mexico. In a stand, health care workers hand out information pamphlets to the passersby.

 

Dissemination of risk messages

Preparation and dissemination of risk messages increase the effectiveness of communications at community level. Here WHO staff Kriti Bhattarai explain a series of messages related to safe water, sanitation and hygiene practices in Bhimtar, a village of approximately 900 households in the district of Sindhupalchok, one of the worst affected by 2015 Nepal earthquake.

Emergency health campaign protects communities

A social mobilizer distributes flyers about Ebola to children and passersby at a busy marketplace in Lagos, Nigeria as part of a street-by-street information campaign back in September 2014.

These community workers drive around local neighborhoods in colourful trucks with loudspeakers giving information about preventing Ebola infection and answering questions from the community to clear up misinformation. Going to local neighborhoods also gives an opportunity to listen to the concerns about the disease.

Powerful message from Ebola survivors

Dr Ada Igonoh was infected with Ebola after treating a Liberian man with the virus who came to her hospital in Lagos, Nigeria. She credits her survival to drinking oral rehydration solutions to fight dehydration. Ebola survivors have become powerful ambassadors of hope, convincing people that Ebola can be beaten.

Sharing information quickly, in ways people trust

Dr Atai Omoruto, a Ugandan doctor deployed to Liberia by WHO, is talking to health workers though a loudspeaker in the open air at Island clinic, Liberia. Dr Omoruto is part of a WHO-deployed team of Ugandan doctors and health workers. The group has vast experience in managing Ebola outbreaks, having faced many cases of this disease since 2000. The Ugandans work alongside nearly 600 Liberian colleagues treating patients and helping to maintain the strict infection control measures that are necessary at the centre.

Vaccination campaign in humanitarian emergencies

A WHO team member checks the safety of polio vaccines during her visit to a Syrian refugee camp based in the Bekaa valley, Lebanon. Together with Ministry of Health and UNICEF, WHO started a polio vaccination campaign in late April 2015 at targeted areas across the country, where more than 1 million Syrians refugees are registered. Lebanon has maintained its polio-free record since 2002. Vaccination campaigns like this help the public understand the risk of under-immunization.

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