PESHAWAR: In order to increase awareness and prioritization of COVID-19 testing as a key element of the national pandemic response and generate demand for COVID-19 services at the community level, Shifa Foundation Islamabad, a sister organization of Shifa International Hospital, implemented a one-year project on COVID-19 Test and Treat Advocacy in Pakistan.
The project team held its Quarterly Review Meeting at Ramada Hotel Islamabad which was attended by the Senior Management and Program Team of Shifa Foundation including Dr. Khadeeja Azhar, Executive Director, Zia Ur Rehman, Associate Director Operations, Said Shah, Program Manager, Malik Mohammad Zaheer, Manager WASH and DRR, Imran Bashir, Manager Administration, Bawar Khan, Project Manager, Fizza Anum Riaz, Coordination Officer, Shahzil Khan, Coordination Officer, Dilshad Bano, M&E Officer, Yusra Naeem, Digital Media Officer and Imad Ur Rehman, Logistic and Finance Officer. The 4th quarterly review meeting was chaired by Dr. Khadeeja Azhar.
Sayed Shah, Program Manager, shared the overall background of the project with the participants of the meeting. He shared that Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) and Unitaid collaborated with Shifa Foundation to implement COVID-19 Test and Treat Advocacy Project in Pakistan. The aim of project is to develop context-sensitive advocacy strategies supported by accessible advocacy and communication materials to increase awareness of COVID-19 Test and Treat programs, he told.
Project Manager Bawar Khan briefed the meeting about the achievements and targets of Project. He said, the project has directly accessed more than 10,629 people including 6,612 women and young girls across Pakistan through 383 Community Awareness and Capacity Building Sessions on COVID-19 test, treatment, SOPs, and vaccination. In addition to in-person community sessions, Shifa Foundation has also launched Digital Media campaign and shared authentic and updated advocacy and communication materials about COVID-19 Test and Treat Advocacy.
Electronic data shows that more than 25 million people reached to key messages about COVID-19, SOPs, Tests and Treatments through Shifa Foundation’s digital media campaign. Speaking at the Quarterly Review Meeting, Bawar Khan shared that more than 11000 Information, Education and Communication materials/brochures were developed and distributed among the people. The brochures and flyers focused on COVID-19 services including but not limited to basic information about service centers, preventive measurements, basic vaccination/ booster shots, and testing.
The meeting was briefed that the project ensured the involvement of more than 50 celebrities, health experts and volunteers for public awareness messages to urge communities to adhere to standard procedures to stop the spread of COVID-19 and get tested if they carry symptoms or have been in contact with infected people. To seek the consultation of the key stakeholders, the project conducted three workshops with parliamentarians, representatives from the Ministry of Health, UN Agencies, Line Departments (Social welfare, Police, Education, Health etc), Civil Society Organizations, Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees, Chamber of Commerce, Print and Electronic Media etc. The project activities were published by more than 50 reputed English and Urdu newspapers through 4 press releases during the project tenure. The newspapers published articles and headlines on the project activities and achievements.
The project team identified various challenges and barriers to scale up COVID-19 services in Pakistan. They shared that lack of understanding at community level, centralized vaccination and testing services, lack of integrated efforts, lack of media and Civil Society Organizations roles, insufficient budget to respond pandemics, and political instability etc. were some of the major barriers encountered during the implementation of Project.
The team suggested that lessons and essays on COVID-19 test, treatment and vaccination may be included in the national curriculum to ensure that youth are aware about their roles and responsibilities to respond COVID-19. They also recommended integrated and multisectoral efforts to ensure timely response to COVID-19 and any potential pandemics in future. The team shared that the availability of rapid/ self-test kits can help diagnose COVID-19 at early stages.
Dr.Khadeeja Azhar appreciated the efforts of team for timely completion of project activities and deliverables. She directed the program development team to include COVID-19 test and treat advocacy activities in the designing and implementation of projects being developed on every thematic areas. She promised the project team that Shifa Foundation will continue advocacy and mobilization of COVID-19 test and treat till the last positive case in Pakistan. She emphasized on engaging volunteers in raising awareness about COVID-19 test and treatment across Pakistan. Ms. Khadeeja suggested core team of Shifa Foundation to keep in close coordination with FIND, Unitaid, Global Fund, and ACT-Accelerator Diagnostics Pillar (ACT-A Dx) for future interventions and projects in HIV, TB and Malaria programs.
At the end of meeting, she distributed gift hampers among the project team on successful completion of project.