Dad's report from PNG
I have attended planning meetings this week with the National Department of Health (NDOH) steering team for the immunization campaign and with the national social mobilization steering team. Both teams have made me feel very welcome and have shown good interest in what the Church can add to the campaign. The NDOH committee is made up of members from various departments in the NDOH along with representatives from the major organizations the Church is partners with in the measles initiative (the World Health Organization [WHO], UNICEF, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention [an organization headquartered in Atlanta Georgia that is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services]).
The social mobilization committee wants to adopt the musical jingle we played at the meeting in Sydney as the national theme song/jingle for the campaign. It will be played on radio stations throughout the country. We wrote a script for the voice-over message that is now going through the bureaucratic process for approval. It's only 4 lines long but you'd think it was an amendment to the constitution. As soon as I get the final approvals we'll go into production and get some Primary children to sing it in both English and Pidgin. I'm not sure if the words are going to fit the music in Pidgin but we'll give it a try. A member of the Church is working on the translation.
The biggest challenge in the campaign is going to be the National Capital District which includes Port Moresby. One of the main contributions the Church members can provide in the district will be to conduct Rapid Assessment Surveys in areas where immunizations have been given to make sure all applicable children have been vaccinated. We did the same thing in the Philippines campaign. It's an important part of the campaign here and the area we will probably focus on for Church involvement. I will be asking for permission for our members to wear the Helping Hands vests instead of ID badges we have usually provided for all volunteers, members and non-members, in other campaigns. We were allowed to use the vests in the Philippines. Campaign officials prefer to have Rapid Assessments done by "independent" people not connected with the NDOH so I think the vests would be appropriate.
Officials in NDOH are writing letters of introduction for the Church to the appropriate province and district officials. That should be done next week.
Things are still moving along a little slowly but they are moving in the right direction.
The social mobilization committee wants to adopt the musical jingle we played at the meeting in Sydney as the national theme song/jingle for the campaign. It will be played on radio stations throughout the country. We wrote a script for the voice-over message that is now going through the bureaucratic process for approval. It's only 4 lines long but you'd think it was an amendment to the constitution. As soon as I get the final approvals we'll go into production and get some Primary children to sing it in both English and Pidgin. I'm not sure if the words are going to fit the music in Pidgin but we'll give it a try. A member of the Church is working on the translation.
The biggest challenge in the campaign is going to be the National Capital District which includes Port Moresby. One of the main contributions the Church members can provide in the district will be to conduct Rapid Assessment Surveys in areas where immunizations have been given to make sure all applicable children have been vaccinated. We did the same thing in the Philippines campaign. It's an important part of the campaign here and the area we will probably focus on for Church involvement. I will be asking for permission for our members to wear the Helping Hands vests instead of ID badges we have usually provided for all volunteers, members and non-members, in other campaigns. We were allowed to use the vests in the Philippines. Campaign officials prefer to have Rapid Assessments done by "independent" people not connected with the NDOH so I think the vests would be appropriate.
Officials in NDOH are writing letters of introduction for the Church to the appropriate province and district officials. That should be done next week.
Things are still moving along a little slowly but they are moving in the right direction.
No comments:
Post a Comment