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Association de Sante Familiale (ASF)
Social Marketing in Congo/Kinshasa
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Program
Focus: |
HIV/AIDS, malaria, reproductive
health, child survival |
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Target
Regions: |
Nationwide, main office in Kinshasa,
with ten provincial offices. PSI/ASF is the only NGO with activities
in each of DRC’s eleven provinces. |
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Target
Population: |
HIV/AIDS: commercial sex workers and their clients, military
and police, long-haul truckers, demobilized child soldiers, young
adults and the general population; Malaria: pregnant women and
women with children under the age of five years old; Family planning:
women of
reproductive age and health care providers; Safe water: parents
with children under the age of five
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| 2006 Estimated Health Impact: |
Episodes of malaria averted: 2 million
(explained)
Unintended pregnancies averted: 185,000
(explained)
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Products: |
PUR Purifier of Water since 2006
Delivrans clean delivery kit since 2004
Séréna and Maman
Séréna
insecticide treated mosquito nets since 2003
Prudence female condoms since 2003
Confiance family planning products (five total)
since 2003
Prudence male condoms since 1987
SérénaDose, artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) for children
7 months to five years old, since 2007
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Local
Collaboration: |
Ministry of Health, the National AIDS,
family planning and malaria programs, and international and local
NGOs. |
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Current
Donors: |
British Department for International
Development (DFID)
The Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund)
Procter & Gamble
United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
U.S. Agency for International Development
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| Year Program Began: |
PSI/ASF has worked in DRC
since 1987 without interruption in spite of civil unrest or war.
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Project Activities and Highlights
HIV/AIDS |
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PSI/ASF promotes healthy behavior among the general
population and places an emphasis on high-risk groups to prevent
and treat sexually-transmitted infections to limit the spread to
the general population. |
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In addition to traditional mass media, PSI/ASF uses interpersonal
communications as well as mobile video units (MVUs) to educate
target audiences on HIV/AIDS/sexually-transmitted infections
and to promote risk reducing behavior following the ABC and D
(Abstinence, Be Faithful, Use Condoms and be tested for HIV from
the French word “Depistage”) message strategy. In 2006, approximately
500,000 people were reached in high-risk sites with behavior
change messages, and more than 31 condoms were distributed nationwide. |
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PSI/ASF’s HIV/AIDS platform is supported by three donors. It
is supported by DFID in Kinshasa, by a USAID targeted platform
in Bukavu, Lubumbashi and Matadi and by the Global Fund nationwide. |
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Malaria |
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PSI/DRC promotes and distributes Séréna and Maman
Séréna long-lasting insecticide-treated
mosquito nets (LLINs) in all provinces. Maman Séréna
LLINs are sold at highly subsidized prices and distributed through
partner health clinics to pregnant women and women with children
under five. Séréna LLINs are sold through the commercial
sector. |
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PSI/DRC conducts interpersonal communications activities
at health clinics, through community women's group meetings and
at marketplaces. In 2006, these activities reached 50,000 low-income
vulnerable women with important messages about malaria and malaria
prevention. |
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In 2007, PSI/DRC launched SérénaDose, a pre-packaged
malaria home treatment product to make artemisinin-based combination
therapy (ACTs) more readily available to the Congolese population at
an accessible price. |
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To increase project management capacity, collaboration on strategic planning and harmonization between all stakeholders involved in funding and implementing malaria control interventions in the DRC, PSI seconded a Technical Advisor (TA) to the DRC National Malaria Prevention Program (PNLP). The TA works closely with the Congolese government staff of the PNLP on key malaria programming issues. |
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Reproductive Health |
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Family Planning
In DRC, family planning products and services were virtually non-existent
until recently as the result of a war that ravaged the country and decimated
the healthcare infrastructure. PSI/ASF has taken the lead to address this
problem and currently offers a comprehensive range of high quality family
planning products and services including two types of oral contraceptives,
an IUD, an injectable and the Standard Days Method with CycleBeads. The
program has a network of trained providers that includes 86 clinics, 315
pharmacies and 110 mobile educators located in eight provinces. |
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Improving Technical Capacity
PSI/ASF has increased family planning technical capacity through
its effective and high quality training of trainers program. To
date, PSI/ASF has trained over 700 medical professionals, mobile
educators and community leaders as family planning trainers. Participants
of these trainings include PSI agents as well as government agency
partners, partner clinics and pharmacies, and partner NGOs. Those
who have participated in the training are now qualified to train
others, further expanding family planning capacity in DRC. |
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Mass Media
In 2005, PSI/ASF launched the country’s largest family planning
mass media campaign providing approximately six million people
with information about family planning services and products.
These
materials continue to provide important information to people throughout
DRC. |
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Interpersonal Communications (IPC)
PSI/ASF’s IPC activities, which include
open houses conducted at partner clinics, a trained network of
mobile educators and a toll-free telephone line, provide a variety
of opportunities for women and their partners to learn about PSI/ASF’s
range of family planning products and services as well provide
high quality information that allow women and their partners to
make informed choices about family planning. |
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In 2004, PSI/ASF launched a clean delivery kit that is distributed
to health centers, pharmacies and midwives. The clean delivery
kit has been highly successful and more than 38,000 have been sold
since the launch of the project. The project operates solely on
income generated from sales and is promoted by word of mouth, without
the aide of additional promotional or communications materials. |
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Child Survival |
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Safe Water
Globally, DRC accounts for 1 in 20 diarrheal
disease deaths among children under five.
In 2006, PSI/ASF launched Procter & Gamble’s PUR Purifier
of Water, a point-of-use water treatment system, which
can significantly reduce the risk of diarrheal disease. PUR
rids
water of dangerous water-borne pathogens and provides
visible signs that water is cleaner. PUR is currently being
distributed on a national scale through PSI/ASF’s approximately
20,000 sale points. In addition, PUR
is distributed through PSI/ASF’s NGO partners to ensure that
those most vulnerable to water-borne illnesses (including people
living with HIV and AIDS, internally displaced persons, those living in
cholera endemic areas, etc) can
easily access PUR. PUR is promoted through
interpersonal communications in schools, health centers and
churches as well as via mass media. Product demonstrations
incorporate key messages related to improved hygiene and
safe water storage.
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A mother in Kasai Occidental province protects
her newborn child
with a Mama Serena long-lasting insecticide-treated
mosquito net.
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PSI/ASF's targeted campaigns reach the Congolese
military with educational information about HIV prevention.
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