Vaccinations against COVID-19: Shifa Foundation partners with FIND, Unitaid

ISLAMABAD: Many countries have been able to identify surges and limit transmission of COVID-19 through widespread use of tests coupled with public health interventions.

To strengthen widespread testing and upscale vaccinations against COVID-19, Shifa Foundation Pakistan’s ‘COVID-19 Test and Treat Advocacy in Pakistan’ has collaborated with the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) and Unitaid. Shifa Foundation is one of the 21 implementing partners and the only one from Pakistan implementing this project.

A consultative workshop with experts and decision-makers like health professionals and parliamentarians was organised on Tuesday.

The participants including legislators, policymakers, representatives from UN agencies, Ministry of Health and Sciences, researchers, civil society participated in the workshop and contributed in further enhancing the approach to create awareness and motivate people for test and treat.

The workshop was chaired by Dr Shazia Sobia Aslam Soomro, Member of National Assembly and Parliamentary Secretary National Health Sciences & Research Center. Main goal of the workshop was to find consult with stakeholders on “how to scale-up the COVID-19 tests and vaccination drive in Pakistan”. In this expert level workshop, the participants came up with relevant and rational suggestions.

The participants suggested that effective and continuous coordination among the Organizations and Departments can contribute to scale-up the COVID-19 tests and vaccination in Pakistan. The participants agreed that disinformation, rumors and stigmas are associated with COVID-19. Dr Shahzad Ali Khan shared that COVID-19 is still a myth and awareness should be raised at community level.

He added that advocacy projects on COVID-19 should be continued until the positive cases are zero in Pakistan. Dr Hassan OrooJ, National Coordinator World Health Organization (WHO) suggested that the Department of Education should play its role by arranging COVID-19 vaccination drive in schools. He added that the admission of students should be subject to COVID-19 vaccination.

The project aims to create mass awareness at grassroots level, advocate the project objectives at gross top level and bridge up the communities and department of health to combat roomers against COVID-19 vaccine, bridge up the communities and department of health to achieve the intended objectives of the project.

Shifa Foundation conducted several meetings with key stakeholders including religious leaders, teachers, doctors, community elders to seek their support in awareness raising to motivate people for test and treat in already available centres at Health Facilities. From inception till date around 170 community sessions were conducted in different areas and reached out to more than 4220 beneficiaries including 2681 females to mobilize and sensitize them regarding COVID-19 test and treat.

To further strengthen the mobilization campaign, social and digital media like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Linkedin were also used for broader coverage and reached to 5.6 million people.

Animated audio/ videos messages, information and SOPs about COVID-19 have also been shared on dedicated social media pages to raise awareness and provide easy and speedy access to our beneficiaries.

More than 3000 IEC materials/brochures focused on practicing COVID-19 precautions, vaccination and booster doses, and testing were distributed. The IEC materials have been carefully developed and reviewed by external and internal experts. The involvement of celebrities and volunteers in the awareness drive was another approach to convey the message to masses through their near and dears.

Several public awareness messages (videos) were recorded from volunteers, celebrities and health experts. The video messages urged the public to adhere to standard procedures to stop the spread of COVID-19 and get tested if they have symptoms or have been in contact with infected people.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022