The Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs has created a one-stop shop for the latest social and behavior change communication resources available on the novel coronavirus COVID-19, which has been spreading across the globe since December.
Given the latest WHO guidance, the unpredictable nature of the novel coronavirus and the growing number of travel restrictions in place, organizers have made the “extremely difficult decision” to postpone this month’s 2020 International SBCC Summit in Marrakech, Morocco.
CCP is working in Asia and Africa to strengthen national capacity for risk communication and community engagement around emerging infectious diseases such as the coronavirus that is capturing headlines around the world.
To help cut through misinformation and rumors surrounding the second-largest Ebola outbreak ever in the world, the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs has developed messages for a national health hotline available to anyone in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
A new external evaluation of USAID’s response to a 2015 Zika outbreak commends the role CCP played in sharing timely, accessible information and the progress being made to counter it.
In Cote d’Ivoire, CCP’s research is designed to develop messaging that would help prevent the spread of the next outbreak of a zoonotic disease in West Africa – that is, a disease that can be spread from animals to humans.
Zika isn’t the threat it once was, but many of the recommended prevention behaviors are just as relevant for avoiding other mosquito-borne illnesses such as chikungunya and dengue. CCP has trained hundreds to spread the word.
One in four people surveyed in eastern Congo say they don’t believe Ebola is real. We need to find a way to rebuild that trust to be able to halt an outbreak that keeps spreading, says CCP’s Susan Krenn.
“We are charged with putting a comprehensive strategy and system in place so that should an emergency occur, we will be ready to respond,” says CCP’s Kathryn Bertram.
Sometimes communication is all we have to effectively respond in real time to emergency health threats such as the Nipah virus in India, writes CCP’s Executive Director Susan Krenn.
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