Health Promotion and Communication Project Year Five: Quarterly Narrative Report October 1, 2011 – December 31, 2011

The project is led by University Research Co., LLC (URC) in partnership with the Philippine Department of Health (DOH) and Local Government Units (LGUs). HealthPRO's primary objective is to increase the impact of strategic behavioral change communication interventions, strengthen national and local institutional capacity, and assist USAID's Country Agreement (CA) and other organizations in supporting the communication element of their programs. HealthPRO's communication activities focus on various health services, including Maternal, Neonatal, Child Health and Nutrition (MNCHN), Family Planning (FP), Tuberculosis (TB), and HIV/AIDS. The project's expected outcomes include positive behavioral changes among individuals and caregivers, increased capacity of national and local institutions in carrying out effective health promotion strategies, and improved coordination and integration of governmental and non-governmental health promotion activities. HealthPRO is currently working in 30 provinces in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, including the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), and select cities for HIV/AIDS. The project's central and field-level activities are implemented in accordance with the Year 5 Annual Workplan. During the reporting quarter ending on December 31, 2011, HealthPRO accomplished various tasks under the components of behavior change communication (BCC) planning and implementation. At the national level, HealthPRO provided technical assistance to the DOH in planning future Large-Scale Behavior Change (LBK) implementation, Family Planning Wave 3 activities, and Family Planning Wave 2 campaign for ARMM. The project also supported the development and implementation of media plans, conducted media training, and distributed materials to reach more people with key health messages. HealthPRO strengthened its linkage with other partners, collaborating with the Commission on Population (POPCOM) in the IPC/C TOT, supporting the HEPO national convention, and providing technical updates to HEPOs. At the local level, HealthPRO successfully leveraged more than nine and a half million pesos from the public and private sector. The project conducted provincial HEPO conferences, provided technical updates on various topics, and scaled up the identification, orientation, and mobilization of resource persons, community groups, and POCs. HealthPRO also conducted media training and supported the development and implementation of media plans. Under BCC implementation and support, IPC/C trainings and rollouts continued for 1-day and 3-day modules. POPCOM rolled out the IPC/C training provided by HealthPRO to its trainers. Supportive supervision sessions and client exit interviews were conducted to further sustainability and improvement of IPC/C counseling. Integrated health messages job aids were introduced and distributed, and health classes were scaled up to reach even those in remote and impoverished communities. The Wave 2 FP campaign continued its rollout in all project-supported areas, while preparations for Wave 3 FP activities were carried out, including focus group discussions to gather insights from the proposed campaign's target audience. HealthPRO ARMM provided technical assistance to DOH ARMM in pretesting Wave 2 FP campaign materials. Health events for Safe Motherhood (SM), Garantisadong Pambata (GP), and other health-related activities were also conducted during the reporting quarter.