Ministry Sets Standards to Bring Positive Health Outcomes

Addis Ababa January 15/2019 Ministry of Health introduced Social and Behavioral Change Communication Quality Assurance Guideline today to alter the behavior of the communities to address health related problems.

Lack of quality standards and quality assurance mechanisms to implement (SBCC) programs and lack of well organized information disseminating through media are among the factors prompted the Ministry to develop the guideline.

In line with this, the guideline supports standardized design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation improvements of SBCC intervention.

Advocacy communities’ campaign, face to face communication, process of plan, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of programs are among the criteria to guarantee quality implementing SBCC.

Typhoid, malaria, pneumonia, tonsillitis and bronchitis are among top ten diseases occurring in the country due to lack of   standards to assure quality of implementing SBCC programs, it was learnt.

The guideline serves various stakeholders from Federal Health institutes to Wereda Health offices as well as civil society associations, academia and research institutions and other relevant entities.

Ethiopia introduced National Health Promotion and Communication Strategy to guide and harmonize health communication interventions and drive improvements in implementation to increase knowledge, realize positive behavior change of the communities addressing health related problems in 2016.