Looking beyond HIV, TB and malaria: The importance of advocating for avian influenza capacity building in Africa and Southeast Asia

Although policy-makers and program planners have paid increasing attention to avian influenza (AI) prevention and control, the capacity to address the numerous and complex issues related to battling AI remains weak in much of the world. In many African countries, for example, advocacy is needed to ensure that written plans on avian and pandemic influenza actually become implemented, and that community groups feel empowered to change the knowledge, attitudes and practices of their neighbors toward the cause of preventing (or mitigating the effects of) AI outbreaks. This presentation will outline an advocacy process that can be used at the community level to prevent and control the spread of AI based on using the “SMART” criteria for developing results-oriented advocacy activities (objectives must be Specific/Measureable/Achieveable/Realistic/Time-bound). We will offer examples of AI-related advocacy goals/objectives, target audiences, partnerships, key messages, strategic activities, and evaluation/monitoring strategies that can be used by individuals interested in effecting change in their communities, and discuss scenarios where such advocacy tools have been used in Africa and Southeast Asia to prevent AI – including a case study on advocacy undertaken by women's unions in SE Asia -- and the importance of those efforts in building infectious disease control capacity. Finally, we will discuss the challenges that have been faced by individuals and groups that have embarked on AI advocacy activities in their community, particularly in areas where the perceived risk of AI is low and other infectious diseases (such as HIV/AIDS and malaria) take precedent, and some of their lessons learned.