The Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs is a partner on the USAID Guinea Local Health System Strengthening Activity, locally known as “Projet Notre Santé,” which means our health in English. The project is led by RTI International, funded by USAID and designed to work alongside partners including the Ministry of Health to sustainably improve the quality, accessibility, and affordability of health care in Guinea.
CCP leads the social and behavior change work for the project, working hand-in-hand with health care providers, patients, community health workers, mayors, religious leaders and more to improve health outcomes for Guineans, particularly women and children.
Working with two local non-governmental organizations in Guinea – Centre Africain de Formation pour le Développement (CENAFOD) and Comité des Jeunes Mon Avenir D’abord (CJMAD) – the project will work across three regions including Boké, Kindia, and Labé, and across the five communes in the capital city Conakry, covering an estimated 50 percent of Guinea’s total population.
CCP also plans to leverage its networks and strengthen the capacity of the Ministry of Health and local partners to use behavioral science and health data to tailor social and behavior change interventions.
To get at the underlying challenges in Guinea, the project uses social norms research, investigating the knowledge, attitudes and practices in the community that contribute to or detract from the success of the health care system along with conducting focus groups with marginalized people including displaced youths, disabled people, and women – 84 percent of whom cannot read.
The project prioritizes improving provider behavior and delivering care in a culturally sensitive manner that engages community members while building on best practices and lessons learned from past projects.
