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Rethinking communications for governance of malaria programs

Malaria has, to a great extent, become normalized and accepted as inevitable. To resume global progress on malaria elimination, national malaria programs in many malaria-endemic countries urgently need to add new tactics. The global COVID-19 experience has demonstrated that it is possible to rapidly...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Opigo, Jimmy, Guyer, Anya L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10389711/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37523349
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0001132
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author Opigo, Jimmy
Guyer, Anya L.
author_facet Opigo, Jimmy
Guyer, Anya L.
author_sort Opigo, Jimmy
collection PubMed
description Malaria has, to a great extent, become normalized and accepted as inevitable. To resume global progress on malaria elimination, national malaria programs in many malaria-endemic countries urgently need to add new tactics. The global COVID-19 experience has demonstrated that it is possible to rapidly shift health programming and governance. In this essay we argue that a key to transforming malaria programming is stronger and more strategic communications to bring malaria to the forefront. Our concept of communications goes beyond the typical malaria behavior change communication or information, education and communication campaigns; to truly have an impact on improving the malaria situation in the countries where it is most entrenched, malaria program staff and advocates must also focus more on strategic communications to rally the full range of stakeholders to prioritize malaria. We searched two databases of peer-reviewed literature and one malaria-focused journal for examinations of strategic communications for malaria governance and found no publications that deal directly with the topic. This paper therefore proposes a framework for strategic communications for malaria governance that involves five key elements: knowing the audience, defining the message, designing a medium, identifying a messenger, and selecting the timing. Throughout the essay, we draw on experiences from Uganda, where one of the authors leads the country’s National Malaria Control Division. Strategic communications can trigger improvements in malaria control by driving and supporting decision-making by individuals and leaders. Further, strategic communications is a tool used to improve policy, mobilize resources, and serve as the management glue that holds a malaria program and team together as they move their nations towards malaria elimination.
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spelling pubmed-103897112023-08-01 Rethinking communications for governance of malaria programs Opigo, Jimmy Guyer, Anya L. PLOS Glob Public Health Review Malaria has, to a great extent, become normalized and accepted as inevitable. To resume global progress on malaria elimination, national malaria programs in many malaria-endemic countries urgently need to add new tactics. The global COVID-19 experience has demonstrated that it is possible to rapidly shift health programming and governance. In this essay we argue that a key to transforming malaria programming is stronger and more strategic communications to bring malaria to the forefront. Our concept of communications goes beyond the typical malaria behavior change communication or information, education and communication campaigns; to truly have an impact on improving the malaria situation in the countries where it is most entrenched, malaria program staff and advocates must also focus more on strategic communications to rally the full range of stakeholders to prioritize malaria. We searched two databases of peer-reviewed literature and one malaria-focused journal for examinations of strategic communications for malaria governance and found no publications that deal directly with the topic. This paper therefore proposes a framework for strategic communications for malaria governance that involves five key elements: knowing the audience, defining the message, designing a medium, identifying a messenger, and selecting the timing. Throughout the essay, we draw on experiences from Uganda, where one of the authors leads the country’s National Malaria Control Division. Strategic communications can trigger improvements in malaria control by driving and supporting decision-making by individuals and leaders. Further, strategic communications is a tool used to improve policy, mobilize resources, and serve as the management glue that holds a malaria program and team together as they move their nations towards malaria elimination. Public Library of Science 2023-07-31 /pmc/articles/PMC10389711/ /pubmed/37523349 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0001132 Text en © 2023 Opigo, Guyer https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Review
Opigo, Jimmy
Guyer, Anya L.
Rethinking communications for governance of malaria programs
title Rethinking communications for governance of malaria programs
title_full Rethinking communications for governance of malaria programs
title_fullStr Rethinking communications for governance of malaria programs
title_full_unstemmed Rethinking communications for governance of malaria programs
title_short Rethinking communications for governance of malaria programs
title_sort rethinking communications for governance of malaria programs
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10389711/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37523349
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0001132
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