The core objective of the Project’s public education activities is to enhance awareness of primary healthcare (PHC) services and overcome the perception of low primary care quality, thus increasing the overall demand for PHC services. This component also covers healthy lifestyle promotion and community mobilization campaigns to boost health-seeking behavior. To that end, the Project also intends to provide small grants to health promotion NGOs in Yerevan and marzes.
To achieve the goals in this area the Project will:
| • Implement public education campaigns to increase awareness about PHC services, healthy lifestyles, patient rights and services available under the basic benefit package (BBP) ensured by the state; |
| • Promote public understanding of the open enrollment and recognition of family medicine by communicating clear and consistent messages about their benefits; |
| • Provide training to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and journalists in Yerevan and marzes to get them involved in reinforcing national health promotion campaigns at the local level; |
| • Assist the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Armenia in building capacity for public education campaign implementation; |
| • Organize public events and community meetings to get local population involved in upgrading the PHC facilities and fostering healthy lifestyles. |
Public Education Campaigns
Public education campaigns implemented by the Project strive to provide credible and accurate information about both PHC services in general, and specific health issues for various population groups. To increase the efficiency of health education efforts, the Project will make use of multiple media outlets, including print media, radio, and television. The focus will be on programs accessible in Yerevan and marzes, to reach communities in distant and rural areas.
Assistance to NGOs and Journalists
Assistance provided by the PHCR Project to local NGOs and journalists includes:
• Technical assistance, primarily training seminars and workshops;
• Financial support to health promotion/disease prevention initiatives through small grants program for NGOs.
Journalist trainings are designed to help media strengthen their capacity in communicating healthcare issues and covering recent developments in PHC reform on a regular basis.
NGO trainings are designed for health promotion and community mobilization organizations who will receive grants under the Project and aim to improve their ability to engage citizens in healthy lifestyles initiatives.
The small grants will be awarded through open competition. The grant distribution process is a part of the Project’s overall marz roll-out strategy: as the Project begins working with facilities in a marz, it will establish criteria for grantee selection and will advertise the program locally (please keep checking out the Announcements section of this website for details).
Community Mobilization
You can learn more about PHCR Project community mobilization strategies and activities here.
Please click here to access public education materials developed and distributed by the PHCR Project.
You can also see photos of the Project’s public education activities, or browse through some health education and healthy lifestyle websites from our Useful Links section.