IMPROVING MESSAGES FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS OF PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH IN WEST AFRICA

1. Susan Zimicki January 23, 2008 IMPROVING MESSAGES FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONSOF PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH IN WEST AFRICA

2. KEY RECOMMENDED INTERVENTIONS • WHO/FAO/UNICEF Expert meeting • March 2006: • Report • Separate • Wash • Cook

3. OVERALL OBJECTIVE OF STUDY • UNICEF West Africa Regional Office wanted to develop communication/community mobilization interventions to reduce the negative impact of AI • Needed to know • The problem in context • How communities identify problems and determine appropriate courses of actions • Feasibility of recommended messages

4. APPROACH • UNICEF partnered with AED to carry out community-based participatory action research (PAR). • To capture diversity, three locations: • Burkina Faso • Lagos State, Nigeria • Kano State, Nigeria • In each location, one urban/peri-urban and one more rural site

5. PAR TOOLS • Community mapping • Transect walks • Seasonal calendars • Flow diagrams • Bean heaps Focus group discussions In-depth interviews Matrix ranking Force-field mapping Venn diagrams Causal flow mapping

6. BURKINA FASO Predominantly natural Wind and dust Migrating and wild birds From foreign birds brought by traders and travelers Contamination: Backyard garbage disposal Drinking contaminated water Eating dead birds NIGERIA Recurring theme: external source Migrating birds Deliberately introduced by western countries Rumors about the rich wanting to take over the poultry business (away from the middle and low income earners) ORIGIN AND CAUSES OF AI IN BIRDS

7. USES OF CHICKENS and POTENTIAL IMPACT OF AI • Consumption • Usually at feasts, except for well-off • Little direct impact on food security but shift to beef and fish raised prices; loss of income=lower access to staple foods • Commerce (monetary and barter) • Money used for school fees, farm inputs, health care costs • Livelihood impact of falling prices, closed commercial farms • Ceremonies • Chickens play an essential role in rituals • No imaginable substitutes • Gifts to maintain and strengthen social ties Substitutes available

8. MESSAGE CONTENT GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS • Existing information, including both “true” and “false” • Not a blank slate • Many rumors • Different views about source of AI affect credibility • Biomedical AND supernatural explanations • Conspiracy explanations • Gap between communicated and perceived risk • Most people who eat dead birds have no bad consequences • Seasonality of poultry movement & of risk

9. “REPORT”BARRIERS AND RECOMMENDATIONS • Lack of recognition of AI • No longer a problem in Nigeria or Burkina; might be during first outbreak • Mistrust of authorities • Advocacy for improved/continuing transparency • Lack of a surveillance system; confused/delayed response Advocacy for better response • Problems with compensation • Advocacy for a well-thought-out, fair and timely policy • As part of the process, dialogue with farmers to establish a policy

10. “SEPARATE”BARRIERS • Most difficult set of behaviors to change because of the custom of letting birds roam free • Contributing factors: • Cost of caging materials • Cost of feeding caged birds (biggest impediment) • Belief that commercial birds are more susceptible or can be a source of infection • Not much scope for communication intervention; need to address underlying factors • Possible undesirable consequence – greater exposure of children to feces (cleaning cages)

11. Many people fear thieves… so chicken houses are built with very small doors Only children 6-8 years old can get through the doors to clean the chicken houses Fear of thieves is the underlying factor for childrens’ exposure to infection CHILDREN AND CHICKEN HOUSES IN BURKINA FASO

12. “SEPARATE”WHAT CAN BE DONE • Temporary quarantine • Most feasible to initiate (because temporary) • Quarantine of new stock for 2 weeks before introducing to flock • Communication should focus on • Information about transmission of infection • Modeling how to do it

13. “SEPARATE”WHAT CAN BE DONE • Disposing of dead birds • Food insecurity is the key factor underlying consumption of dead birds • In the short term, address the problem of slaughtering and eating potentially infected birds • Focus on safe practices for slaughter and food preparation

14. “WASH”BARRIERS AND RECOMMENDATIONS • Not using soap • Possibly related to price, but also just habit • Motivation for washing (with water) - smell and bad feel of hands • Build on this in communication - Emphasize how hands smell better after washing with soap and encourge people to “wash often” • No perception that handling birds is contaminating • Information problem (communication solution)

15. “COOK”BARRIERS AND RECOMMENDATIONS • Main consumption of undercooked meat is: • Children cooking for themselves, or • Associated with rituals • In both cases, problem is impatience, not preference • Focus communication efforts on children and traditional practitioners

16. CONCLUSIONS • Even the simplest and most sensible messages may not be credible or feasible • Important to know the context • Can be done rapidly – in each site these PARs took less than a month

17. Mr. Neil Ford, UNICEF M. Misse Misse, UNICEF Dr Serigne Diene, Burkina Faso Manager Dr Eleonore Seumo, Nigeria Manager Dr Umar Auwal Muhammed, Kano State team leader Ms Ayodele Adeyoola Iroko, Lagos team coordinator Dr Daniel Thieba, Burkina Faso Team leader Dr Christophe Coulibaly, Burkina Field Coordinator and all the research and community facilitators FOR MORE INFORMATION: www.avianflu.aed.org THANKS