Kathmandu: Experts and stakeholders representing governmental and non-governmental organizations have said that although Covid cases have drastically gone down and life is returning to normal, the threat is still not over and therefore risk communications about the Covid threat should continue in the days to come as well.
They were speaking at a national level COVID-19 and vaccine uptake Risk Communications and Community Engagement (RCCE) workshop organized by Save the Children in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Population, National Health Education Information Communication Center (NHEICC), and the Association of International NGOs (AIN) in the capital on Tuesday.
“The threat of COVID-19 is still there, and we call upon organizations to work in collaboration with the government and design more community focused Risk Communications and Community Engagement (RCCE) actions,” said Sunil Raj Sharma, Director of National Health Education Information Communications Center (NHEICC) of the Ministry of Health and Population. “Actions which are guided by evidence to deal with COVID-19 and promote vaccine uptake.”
During the workshop, participants discussed best practices utilizing media, community engagement and outreach, evidence generation and social norms research on COVID-19 and vaccine uptake to design Risk Communications and Community Engagement (RCCE) actions. As one of the recommendations, the participants agreed that there was a need for a community of practice to discuss challenges, gaps, and opportunities in RCCE, which in turn would also address duplication of work to effectively communicate life-saving messages on COVID-19 and vaccine to communities. This would help further promote a system of evidence-generation and community informed actions to initiate meaningful RCCE on COVID-19, they said.
Tara Chettry, the Acting Country Director of Save the Children in her remarks acknowledged the achievement made by development partners, and the government’s leadership in leading the COVID-19 awareness and vaccination drive. “I have seen how the COVID-19 vaccines have sparked hope in people, and how vaccines work to protect the future – especially the future of our children. Therefore, we all play a vital role in restoring hope and confidence in our future,” said Chettry. She further stressed on the need for collaboration to reach the last mile by getting every Nepali vaccinated against COVID-19.
According to Save the Children, the workshop is a part of its ongoing RCCE project on COVID-19 awareness.
In the event, officials and representatives from National Health Education Information Communications Center (NHEICC) of the Ministry of Health and Population, World Health Organization, Helen Keller International, Care Nepal, FHI360, Lutheran World Federation, John Hopkins University among other organizations presented about their RCCE efforts to deal with COVID-19 and promote vaccine uptake.
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