Conservation Through Public Health: Protecting People and Mountain Gorillas Through Health Education: Q2 2024 Progress Report Summary
Group photo of CTPH team with Mathias from WEKOnnect Group
Photo: Conservation Through Public Health (May 2024)
Following the user needs assessment that was carried out to identify the 80 households that would represent the communities through the Community Health and Conservation Field officers and VHCT coordinators in Q1, this has been achieved since then:
Assessment of identified and selected representative households surrounding BINP to establish key knowledge and information needs from the routine historical data collected, the Assessment involved;
Data Collection: Surveys were carried out to assess Household knowledge and information needs based on the model One Health household initiative which assesses and improves the health and well-being of community members surrounding BINP by tracking 12 critical One Health indicators of; Functional Clean Latrine, Handwashing Facility, Utensils Drying Rack, Bath Shelter, Animal Shelter, Boiled Drinking Water, Rubbish Pit, Knowledge About Zoonotic Diseases Transmission And Forest Conservation, Tree Planting, Kitchen/ Food Crop Garden, Source Of Income and, Family Planning. Household visits were conducted during the routine data collection and validation by the field officers and VHCTs in communities.
Findings: Despite CTPH’s existing Model Household and other initiatives aimed at improving the health and well-being of community members living in proximity to BINP, which in turn also reduces threats to the endangered mountain gorillas and their habitat, there is still a need to support increased knowledge and understanding of zoonotic diseases and mitigating their transmission through visual aids, including supporting the uptake of actions which individuals can take to improve household health and wellbeing.
Most assessed Households and community volunteers agreed and supported the following:
Creating standardized Social Behavior Change (SBC) Tools/ material that would make them easily understand and fully memorize the concepts. And materials proposed to be developed included a story-oriented chart set for VHCTs and a talking points booklet for community leaders and influencers
The story set should be designed in a comparative style, showcasing both the negative and positive story images on the same slide – Same trend for the 12 critical One Health indicators.
Successful assessments involved the full participation of the field officer, Village Health and Conservation Teams (VHCT), selected Households who are the end users, community leaders, and influencers and were key in establishing actionable findings, and sustained efforts to address identified gaps
Next Steps:
Developing a Creative IEC Material Brief that outlines the purpose, audience, and key elements of the IEC material.
Preparing Draft/Prototype IEC Materials which will involve in Conducting pretests with the audience of VHCTs and Local leaders in the community so as to create room for necessary revisions based on pretest results.
Mass Printing of the IEC Materials.
Assessing on the household critical One Health indicators (Functional Clean Latrine and Handwashing Facility) that will be part of the story-oriented chart
Photo: Conservation Through Public Health
After an assessment with one of the selected households in Bwindi by the CTPH field officer
Photo: Conservation Through Public Health
