WG-2

Advocacy for Action

Advocacy for Action

Claude Lenfant, USA

Archie Turnbull, Switzerland

Paul van Cauwenberge, Belgium

AWARENESS, to raise the attention to the problem

DISSEMINATION, of what to do, what to recommend

AWARENESS, to raise the attention to the problem

DISSEMINATION, of what to do, what to recommend

Why do we want to raise the attention to the problem?

The problem is important, it affects many and we know we can do something about it

and

If we don’t know about it, we can’t do something about it!

“The key elements of effective control of the CRDs in the community include an improvement of the awareness of CRDs among health professionals and the population at large, and, more specifically, among the individuals with CRDs”.

Source: WHO Technical Report Series No. 869. 1996

Specifically, who should be made aware?

GovernmentHealth and Finance

officialsCommunities leadersMedia: TV and NewspapersFoundationsAcademic and Physicians groupsPatients and Public at largePrivate sector: business

Is there a standard, single approach to increase

awareness?

NO!

It will vary from country to country, based on economic status, health care system, culture, population density, etc.

AWARENESS, to raise the attention to the problem

DISSEMINATION, of what to do, what to recommend

Dissemination is different from Awareness with regard

to:

Goal

Target

Content

The Goal is to provide evidence that something can

be done

Strategies and interventions have been tested, and they work

Prevention is effective for many CRDs

Most patients with CRD can be treated effectively

The Target is primarily the Health Care Professionals

Doctors

Physician assistants

Nurses

Pharmacists

Social workers

Whenever possible, patients should also be educated so that they become “partners”.

The Content should be derived from existing

guidelines.

Local experts and professional societies must adapt guidelines to local situations.

The choice of the guideline is important, but not as much as applying/using what is known.

Awareness and Dissemination are essential

for success,

but to be effective they must be continuous

processes.