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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Health Marketing Initiative “AFFORD” Launched In UgandaProject to Boost Demand for Affordable Health Products, Services
KAMPALA, Uganda —A new national health marketing project — introduced May 9 in Kampala by the Uganda’s Minister of Health, the Honorable Jim Muhwezi — plans to use innovative marketing and strategic communication to impact public health issues across Uganda. AFFORD is a five-year project is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) that is designed to boost the growth and development of the market for health-related products and services, such as HIV/AIDS prevention and prophylactic treatment, malaria drugs, long-lasting insecticide-treated nets, a new product to reduce diarrhea in children under five, and family planning methods. The program will increase the accessibility and affordability of such products and services through innovative approaches that engage the private sector. It will also work to encourage and sustain healthy behaviors, and strengthen Uganda’s ability to deliver products, services, and communication support. “AFFORD’s innovation is its consumer-driven approach to health marketing,” said Chief of Party Kojo Lokko. “Our goal is to encourage Ugandan families and communities to protect and improve their health; create vibrant and expanding markets for health products and services; and steadily improve consumer access to affordable products and services.” Led by The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Center for Communication Programs (CCP), the AFFORD consortium includes the Futures Group, the Malaria Consortium, and three Uganda-based organizations: Pulse Communication, Aclaim Africa, and the Communication for Development Foundation of Uganda (CDFU). Together with its partners, AFFORD will create the Uganda Health Marketing Group (UHMG), an autonomous non-for profit organization, that will continue to implement health marketing activities even after AFFORD ends. AFFORD will help UHMG establish strong relationships with Uganda’s private sector — both commercial and nongovernmental — to procure, package, distribute, and promote health products. The project will also work to create demand for health products and services through integrated marketing and social communication programs. And it will “package” products and services together under a common healthy lifestyle platform. With representatives in more than 30 countries, CCP partners with organizations worldwide to design and implement strategic communication programs that influence political dialogue, collective action, and individual behavior change; enhance access to information and the exchange of knowledge to improve health and health care; and conduct research to guide program design, evaluate impact, and advance knowledge and practice in health communication. www.jhuccp.org. |
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