Behaviour Change
Purpose and Priorities
The Behaviour Change WG will provide a platform for interested stakeholders to share behaviour change, health education, and communication intervention approaches and scientific research ideas for schistosomiasis prevention, control, and elimination.
The purpose of the GSA Behaviour Change Working Group is:
- To advocate and serve as a catalyst for the integration of science-based behaviour change interventions, health education strategies, and communication activities into existing and new schistosomiasis control and elimination programmes
- To become the referenced convening platform for practitioners of schistosomiasis-related behaviour change interventions, health education strategies and communication studies, projects, and programmes.
- To assemble and make available existing behaviour change, health education, and communication strategies, frameworks, tools, materials, study protocols, and implementation processes, and identify operational gaps.
- To support the development of new tools, materials, frameworks, and guidance documents for behaviour change, health education, and communication interventions to meet country control programme needs.
- To promote the integral role of community/patient input, leadership and endorsement at every stage of the behavour change intervention - from concept, design to implementation and evaluation.
- To instil the need for consistency in messaging with the need for flexibility to suit different geographical, cultural and use contexts.
The priorities of the GSA Behaviour Change WG include but are not limited to:
- Develop an online resource repository for BCC & HE tools that can be used for SCH (GSA website Behaviour Change Resource collection: https://www.eliminateschisto.org/resources/behaviour-change-collection)
- Conduct a social, behavioural, health education, and communication gap analysis of : a. Materials, Methods and Tools - (Review completed 2023 - https://www.eliminateschisto.org/resources/article-behaviour-change-interventions-for-the-control-and-elimination-of-schistosomiasis); b. Research needs
- Identify knowledge gaps to assist in formulating the next research and operational research agenda.
- Collect evidence and engage cross-sectorally to promote & support integration of SCH BC in NTD/WASH/Education programmes.
- Create an internal repository of ongoing projects.
- Feed into the development of NTD behaviour change manuals, toolkits and guidance documents.
The GSA Behaviour Change WG will also look at:
7. The practical application of science and theory-based social, behavioural, health education, and communication approaches currently proposed for the field.
8. Social, behavioral, health education, and communication research that have successfully been integrated into other neglected tropical diseases and the broader community infectious disease landscape over the course of the past few decades.
9. The alignment and identification of synergistic approaches with other NTDs and how best to link initiatives and activities with behaviour change, health education, and communication strategies.
10. How to create broad buy-in by global leaders in the schistosomiasis arena about the importance of the behaviour change research and program activities to the mission of schistosomiasis prevention and control, encouraging them to provide dedicated funding, staff and staff time to undertake the needed work over the necessary timescale.
If you would like to be involved anouk [dot] gouvras [at] eliminateschisto [dot] org (please email us).
