By the time the Health CampaignTime-bound, intermittent activities which are deployed to address specific epidemiologic challenges, expediently fill delivery gaps, or provide surge coverage for health interventions. EffectivenessThe ability of a campaign to achieve specific objectives related to coverage, equity, efficiency and impact. Coalition launched in October 2020, countries had begun innovating to address the challenges of COVID-19. The First Annual Health Campaign Effectiveness Meeting convened 137 people from 26 countries representing 56 organizations across all five major health domains from 20 October 2020 – 21 October 2020.
The meeting participants underscored the critical need to understand community concerns related to COVID-19 so that social mobilization strategies could be tailored to address them. Through the meeting, it was found that mobile phones and social media had begun to play an expanded role in social mobilization and training of health workers.
The imperative to give more attention to “partial integrationPartial integration refers to a spectrum or continuum, in which campaigns share different operational and/or administrative components with any of the PHC” that focuses on collaboration between campaigns surfaced in the launch meeting. There was an exchange of creative examples of data being used for planning and monitoringThe continuous oversight of an activity to assist in its supervision and to see that it proceeds according to plan. Monitoring involves from Guyana that utilized the EPI platform for integrated microplanningMicroplanning is the process of creating detailed, delivery-level operational plans for reaching target populations with health interventions. Recognized as a critical component. Kenya and Benin also highlighted the interoperability of data platforms being used for different campaigns.
Meeting participants expressed the importance of the negotiation phase (also known as pre-planning) with all health campaign stakeholders that precedes actual campaign planning. Several participants expressed that shared tools and approaches can contribute to high-level government and partner commitment in the engagement process.
Participants placed urgency on finding strategies to incentivize and retain community health workers so that health goals can be met. There was agreement that dependence on volunteers must be reduced to improve effectiveness of health campaigns and primary healthcare systems. Participants called to document lessons learnedAn insight on how to adjust what is being done based on experience or learning (describing what was learned and by whom from independent campaigns for a greater understanding of factors that enable and hinder campaign effectiveness. Participants also agreed that in order to transition from independent campaigns to integrated primary healthcare systems governance(i) the exercise of political, economic and administrative authority in the management of a country's affairs at all levels, comprising the complex must be strengthened.