Join us on Wednesday, August 30, 2023, from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m (EDT) for our Program on Social Marketing for Public Health webinar. We will share the importance and the role of social marketing in health promotion and prevention of NCDs, provide an overview of our implementation of the Program on Social Marketing for Public Health, and listen to the experiences and lessons learned from of country teams from Latin America and the Caribbean, that have participated in the tutorized modality.
Context
Public health professionals are facing increasingly complex challenges in their fight against both communicable and noncommunicable diseases, as well as in emergency response. Many of WHO’s Best Buys for the prevention and control for noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) include mass media campaigns as a component to create public awareness or change behavior with respect to risk factors like unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, smoking, or harmful use of alcohol, yet the capacity of countries to design and implement effective campaigns is limited.
Social marketing can be defined as the application of marketing techniques to the design of programs that aim to influence behavior within a population of interest to improve their welfare and create social good. Social marketing can be used to change individual behavior, change social norms in support of public policies, or influence decision-makers.
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) launched a virtual learning Program on Social Marketing for Public Health in July 2022. Our audience included professionals in public health (health communication, health promotion, nutrition, non-communicable diseases), ministries of health, PAHO country offices, NGOs, professional associations, and academia.
The Program was offered in English and Spanish as a self-leaning or tutorized modality and was hosted by PAHO’s Virtual Campus of Public Health. The curriculum consists of “Introduction to Social Marketing for Public Health - Course 1” (self-learning) followed by a second course “Planning and Development of the Social Marketing Program for Public Health.”
The goal is that upon completing the 2-course program, participants will be able to direct or supervise social marketing programs in their territories, make informed decisions, and apply a systematic 5-stage process that ranges from problem formulation to monitoring and evaluating the plan. The Program has reached more than 16,500 participants who have registered for the introductory course.
The Program on Social Marketing for Public Health is a collaboration between the Pan American Health Organization and the College of Public Health at the University of South Florida College of Public Health and is funded by the American Heart Association and the Universal Health Coverage Partnership.
Agenda
10:00 – 10:05 a.m. - Welcome and Opening Remarks: Dr. Anselm Hennis, Director, Department of Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health, Pan American Health Organization PAHO.
10:05 - 10:15 a.m. - Introduction of the Panelist / Promotional Video, Dr. Leo Nederveen, Acting Unit Chief Risk Factors and Nutrition, Regional Advisor Food, Nutrition and Physical Activity in Schools, Pan American Health Organization PAHO.
10:15 - 10.30 a.m. - Overview of the program on social marketing for public health and its implementation: Dr. Mahmooda Khaliq Pasha, Director of the WHO Collaborating Center, University of South Florida – College of Public Health.
10:30 – 11:10 a.m. - Panel: Social marketing projects developed by countries participating in the tutorized modality, Moderator: Leo Nederveen
Reduce salt consumption for working women in hotels: Dahariana Evertsz, Head of Health Promotion, Directorate of Public Health, Aruba,
and Sanne van Kampen, Ph.D., Senior Policy Health Advisor, Government of St Maarten.
Decrease salt/sodium intake in Ministry of Health staff and officials: Lic. Samuel Escudero, Ministry of Health, Panama.
Decreased consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages in school with adolescents 12 to 17 years old: Karol Madríz Morales, Nutritionist, Directorate of Research and Health Technologies - Ministry of Health.
11:10 – 11:20 a.m. - Question and Answer session, Moderator: Leo Nederveen
11:20 – 11:30 a.m. - Closing remarks: Dr. Gerry Eijkemans, Director, Social and Environmental Determinants for Health Equity, Pan American Health Organization PAHO.