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On April 24th, 2018, USAID and the Knowledge for Health (K4Health) Project hosted a three-day share fair event in Antigua, Guatemala for USAID-funded community engagement partners in the Zika response in Latin America and the Caribbean. Over 70 people attended from over 10 countries in the region, representing Ministries of Health and 16 partner organizations. Scroll through the executive summary of the event to learn more about what was discussed and see photos from the event.

El 24 de abril de 2018, USAID y el Proyecto de Conocimiento para la Salud (K4Health)…

Due to the potential risks posed to a baby if exposed to Zika during pregnancy, prenatal care appointments offer an invaluable opportunity to talk to women about Zika and provide them with practical protection measures, like condoms, and information about Zika so that they will have the knowledge and resources to implement home and personal practices to prevent both vector and sexual transmission of the virus. However, making changes to way prenatal care is delivered poses challenges.

Join us on July 5th at noon EST (Washington, D.C.) for a discussion of some of the key lessons…

This piece was originally published by the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs.

More than just a pest, mosquitoes are the world’s most dangerous animal.

Despite their diminutive size, mosquitoes spread deadly diseases that affect more than half of the world’s population and lead to billions of dollars in economic losses each year. From endemic malaria to outbreaks of yellow fever, chikungunya, dengue and Zika, mosquitoes require a global response. Health communication must be a part of that response.

To that end, nearly 100 international experts came…

IFRC Americas Regional Office announces the launch of a new tool for volunteers that implement activities of psychosocial support in communities affected by the Zika virus.

The guide “Guía de apoyo psicosocial en Zika para el voluntariado” (Volunteers’ guide for psychosocial support on Zika) and its toolkit “Caja de herramientas de apoyo psicosocial y Zika” (Toolkit for psychosocial support and Zika) provide element to analyse, plan and implement strategies and actions to protect and improve the mental health and psychosocial welfare of persons, families and communities affected by…

The Leadership in Strategic Communication Workshop

A Unique and Transformational Learning Experience for Communication Professionals

July 8-27, 2018 | Baltimore, MD

The Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs (CCP) invites you to attend the Leadership in Strategic Communication Workshop (LSCW). The three-week workshop is designed for communication professionals who want hands-on experience developing culturally relevant social and behavior change interventions guided by experts in the field of behavior change.

You will learn how to:

Infants and children with congenital syndrome associated with Zika virus (CSaZ) often face a host of neurological, motor and learning problems along with hearing and vision problems, with serious eye damage. The Zika virus can cause irreversible injury in the ocular retina, affecting the macula and the optic nerve and causing severe visual impairment in babies born with microcephaly, as revealed by studies conducted by the Altino Ventura Foundation (FAV), in Pernambuco, Brazil, in association with the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp).

Pernambuco, in the north of Brazil,…

On April 24, 2018, USAID and the Knowledge for Health (K4Health) Project hosted a three-day share fair in Antigua, Guatemala for community engagement partners. A share fair is a participatory event—usually focused on a single topic—that promotes learning from participants' experiences to improve their work. The focus of the event was for community engagement partners to learn from one another; share knowledge, tools, and resources; brainstorm solutions to common challenges; forge connections to strengthen the USAID Zika response; and identify specific opportunities to strengthen country…

On May 17, 2018, the U.S. Department of State, with implementing partner Battelle, will host Mission Mosquito, a Global Health Security and International Public Communication Forum in Washington D.C.

Mosquitoes spread more disease to humans than any other animal. The Mission Mosquito Forum looks to encourage innovation in public engagement strategies to spur action to combat Zika and other mosquito and vector-borne infectious disease.

The forum will bring together a broad range of international experts and communicators including public health officials from Zika-impacted…

This blog post was originally published by ASSIST.

In 2016, scientists confirmed the link between Zika infection during pregnancy and severe birth complications, most notably microcephaly. Thankfully, cases of Zika infection in Latin America and the Caribbean dropped dramatically in 2017; however, Zika is unlikely to ever disappear completely from the region.

A key challenge is the provision of high-quality, patient-centered care and support – medical, psycho-emotional, and social – for children and families affected by Zika, a challenge that continues to evolve as the…

This piece was originally published by the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs.

The mosquito emoji is coming to your smartphone this summer.

The Unicode Consortium, the nonprofit governing body responsible for determining which emoji are added each year, announced in a blog post Wednesday, February 7, 2018 that it had approved 157 new characters for release in June 2018. The new emoji are expected to start showing up on mobile devices in August or September.

The mosquito emoji was proposed last year by the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs…