Pakistan national CDD program : communication review

Evaluation covers the period 6/86-2/87; methodology is not indicated. The project has trained 12,000 health providers in the use of ORS and has started an ORS mass distribution campaign. The project has also promoted ORS name recognition through radio and television advertisements and has initiated KAP surveys of consumers, health providers, and pharmacists. ORS production levels have been adequate and the project has succeeded in hiring a full time program manager and developing a program logo. ORS is still underutilized in homes, however, and the project has been plagued by ambiguous communication and promotion strategies and by uneven performance on the part of both Pakistan's National Institute of Health (NIH) and the private contractor, the D.J. Kymer advertising agency. The NIH has failed to make clear decisions and has delayed payments for approved work done by the Kymer agency; the agency, for its part, has not developed a strategic plan and its print products have been of uneven quality. Although these problems are probably due to NIH's and the agency's inexperience with projects of this sort, rather than to any gross incompetence, they are a serious barrier to achieving project goals. Another problem facing the project is the lack of a field research program to test ORS packaging concepts. As a result, the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) has become far too involved in decisions regarding design details, e.g., colors, typeface, etc. In view of these problems, recommendations are made to focus on resolving the issues of ORS package size and design, appropriate mixing instructions, and design of the instruction leaflet by (1) providing the NIH's program director with a technical advisor in ORS communication; (2) creating a subcommittee of three persons within the TAC to act as an advisory group to the project manager; (3) not allowing the full TAC to review design details of the packaging; (4) financing field trials on packet size and style, mixing instructions, and leaflet design; (5) completing analysis of KAP and field trial results by 6/87; (6) sending the project manager to Egypt to review model ORS delivery programs; (7) proceeding with the development of an emergency leaflet based on the four glass measure for use by 3/87; and (8) reviewing the Kymer agency's work in 3/87 and cancelling the contract if improvements have not been made.