COVID-19 SBC Interventions
Cambodia identified the first confirmed case of COVID-19 on January 27, 2020. The Cambodian government acted quickly to contain the spread of disease. Government’s National Action Plan focused on reducing and delaying transmission; minimizing serious disease and reduce associated deaths; ensuring ongoing essential health services particularly during epidemic peak periods; and minimizing social and economic impact through multisectoral partnerships.
USAID-funded Promoting Healthy Behaviors (PHB) Activity contributes to the effort to prevent and mitigate the spread of the disease using both online and offline interventions with the goal of encouraging general Cambodians to adopt the following behaviors:
- Wash hands with soap for at least 20 seconds
- Cover your mouth with your elbow, tissue or wear mask when coughing or sneezing
- Practice social distancing and maintain a distance of 1.5 meter
- Avoid crowded places
- Call 115 for more COVID-19 information
ONLINE INTERVENTIONS
Cambodia experienced a sharp surge of COVID-19 cases in February 2021 which led to the implementation of travel restrictions and temporary lock down. PHB identified Khmer New Year an important moment and opportunity to promote key behaviors to prevent the spread of COVID-19 when Cambodians travel to their home provinces and attend large celebratory gathering. To ensure the messages resonate with the Cambodian people, materials were created around two concepts: (1) “Tevada”, a mythical being believed to protect people (2) “Star”, the symbol of wishes in the coming year. The contents, in the form of still images and videos with messages of COVID-19 awareness and key preventive safety measures, were distributed widely on various government social media platforms and some major news outlets.
An animated video is designed to be released during major national festivals and ceremonies that encourages Cambodians to take particular care when interacting with elderlies. This group of vulnerable populations are more likely to be at risk of serious complications from COVID-19.
A Chatbot system is set up to provide timely and accurate information to the public. Individuals can access this friendly tool to access useful information that they can easily share with family and friends to dispel myths and misinformation about COVID-19.
Other online information education communication (IEC) materials are developed to assist and support CDC’s effort to create COVID-19 awareness and to encourage public to adopt key preventative measures to reduce the spread of the virus. Content of the IEC materials are developed under the offline Bokator campaign concept – an ancient martial art. The Bokator concept, together with COVID-19 information, brings the previously animated characters to life as “every day” Khmer COVID-Bokators, fighting against the spread of COVID-19 together.
OFFLINE INTERVENTIONS
Two offline campaigns are created and launched in the community to increase COVID-19 awareness and to encourage the public to adopt key COVID-19 preventative behaviors instructed by Cambodian government.
The “Long-life” campaign targeted elderlies aged 60+ in Battambong province. The one-month campaign encourages elderlies to actively adopt preventive health behaviors when visiting neighbors to protect themselves and others from COVID-19. Village chiefs are invited to become Long-life role models by setting up their homes to be COVID-19 free spaces and to influence villagers who came to visit to follow suit. A total of 893 people visited these COVID-19 free spaces in 3 weeks and 31% of the visitors were over 60 years of age. Additionally, 145 home handwashing stations were set up during the campaign period.
Embracing the energy and the empowerment spirit of Cambodian traditions such as Bokator, Cambodians are invited to perform key COVID-19 preventative behaviors using key body movements from these ancient martial arts. The Bokator campaign uses a “pass-through” activation strategy whereby marketgoers pass through a series of stations maned by different interpersonal communication (IPC) agents. Each station demonstrates one key preventative behavior, including proper handwashing technique using a series of Bokator movements. A total of 15,959 people were reached by the end of the campaign which took place in 4 provinces – Battambong, Kampong Chhnang, Tbong Khmum and Kampong Cham.
Strengthening capacity and coordination among SBC practitioners
PHB also contributes to strengthen the coordination and implementation of COVID-19 social and behavior change (SBC) among SBC practitioners. Two SBC forums around the theme of COVID-19 were held at the national and provincial level respectively. The project also provides technical assistance to the National Centre for Health Promotion (NCHP) of the Ministry of Health for their COVID-19 campaigns by providing learning support and sharing comments on their campaign strategy including identifying audience profiles, campaign communication objectives and channels.
* The Promoting Healthy Behaviors (PHB) Activity is a USAID-funded Social and Behavior Change project that commenced in 2018. The goal of PHB is to improve health behaviors among Cambodians and ensure they seek and receive quality healthcare with decreased financial hardship. PHB initially targeted 6 key health areas: Maternal & Child Health; Nutrition; Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH); Tuberculosis; Family Planning; and Malaria. In 2020-2021, PHB also implemented COVID-related activities in response to the global pandemic. Towards the end of 2021, noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) were added to PHB’s health portfolio, and the project was extended until June 2025.
