AED Avian Influenza Behaviour Change and Communications Support Activity

According to AED, an integrated campaign approach will be used that combines advertising, public relations, community-based communications, and interpersonal communication. This will aim to inform key audiences about AI and introduce best practices for its prevention and containment. The first step will be to prioritise different risk behaviours according to epidemiologic importance (how prevalent they are and how much risk they entail) and the feasibility of changing these behaviours especially in the immediate term. AED work with key stakeholders in each country to achieve consensus on a final list of priority behaviours, key message points, and overall timeline. These stakeholders include Ministries of Agriculture and Health; representatives from the donor community; the commercial sector, including small farmers and poultry processors; and civil society, including health organisations, poultry associations, and consumer groups. The eventual communications plan will include several strategies, including:

• interpersonal communications, such as farmer education by extension agents and veterinary staff, patient counseling by clinic health workers, peer education (farmer-to-farmer; vendor-to-vendor), and informal discussion (vendor-to-consumer, neighbor-to- neighbor);
• organisational and community outlets, such as workplace, schools, community and village level meetings, affinity groups (women’s unions, farmer groups, health associations, etc.);
• mass media, including national television, radio, and print, and international and web-based communication; and
• public relations/advocacy, such as high-level thought-leader conferences with international experts on the subject, and press briefings to increase the media’s understanding and access to correct information.

Under the project's private sector alliance component, private sector organisations will be identified on who has valuable resources that can be harnessed to contain the spread of avian influenza and who are willing to partner with USAID to engage in preparedness planning.

Please click here to download a PDF document of examples of posters and radio spots being used in Vietnam.

Please click here to download a brief entitled "Solutions for Farm-related Risk Behaviors" which includes messages and strategies to reach small farmers and their families.