The objective of this study was to design an effective co-packaging for zinc and ORS, informed by social-marketing, to influence both caregivers’ and providers’ behaviors in a demonstration project. Local concepts, perceptions and experiences relating to diarrhea and care seeking were explored in 8 focus group discussions (n=82) and 24 key informant interviews with caregivers at the health post level in the department of San Marcos, Guatemala. Prototype co-packaging and messages were developed and reviewed with 14 mothers and 10 providers in 4 municipalities to pretest the candidate materials. The formative research identified two major challenges to correctly using zinc and ORS to treat childhood diarrhea with regards to: 1) the concept of adherence to zinc once symptoms disappeared; and 2) dissolving a tablet in a spoon was a new skill. A campaign of Zinc-10 was created and tested to promote the concept of 10 days of adherence to zinc; additional visual aids focused on showing dissolving of zinc on a spoon. These candidate concepts and messages were highly accepted by caregivers and providers, yet revisions were needed for images and materials used. Using a social-marketing approach, packaging and promotional messages were developed that were more acceptable to caregivers.
Resource Type : Brief
Country : Guatemala
Year : 2014-01-01T00:00:00
Language : English
Project : SHOPS