The Care for Health Campaign - Russia

The Care for Health Campaign, designed to increase demand for family planning as a desirable, healthy alternative to abortion, included television and radio spots, a family planning log and slogan, and campaign posters and souvenirs. The Russian Family Planning Association (RFPA) printed over one million brochures on contraceptive methods. There were also press conferences and numerous advocacy activities, such as the convening of a committee of prominent national figures like Mikhail Gorbachev to sign a declaration of support for family planning. Local partners in the regions (oblsasts) carried out a variety of promotional activities including a traveling lecture series, a hotline, clinic open houses and disco events. Russia's first major independent press syndicate, Globe, published over 120 articles on women's health and family planning and a weekly newspaper advice column entitled "Ask Dr. Olga."

For doctors and nurses, materials on modern contraceptive technology, including laminated job aids describing contraceptive methods, Russian translations of Population Reports, and a video on counseling techniques, were developed and used in training activities for the Women's Health Reproductive Program (WRHP). Russian doctors' who had requested help in educating women and promoting modern contraceptives were educated in seminars on health communication theory and practice. These sessions included a one-week materials design seminar, a three-day session on pretesting, and a two-week international course entitled "Advances in Family Health Communication."

Family Planning, Women.

This campaign is one element of the larger WRHP initiative that also included training for health care providers and pharmacists, advocacy, and research. The WRHP was initiated in 1994 by the US Agency for International Development/Moscow. It was designed to improve the health of women and children by promoting change in family planning communication and service delivery systems, leading to a greater use of modern contraceptive methods (including condoms, injectables, intrauterine devices and pills).

Officially designed to reach only six oblasts, the Care for Health Campaign became a national project with direct involvement and ongoing support from the Ministry of Health (MOH). The programme was adopted as a deliverable under the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission, leading to discussions about family planning at the highest policy levels. Then Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin wrote a directive to national television stations resulting in approximately $200,000 worth of donated airtime for the campaign. The family planning message ultimately reached women in the programme oblasts, throughout Russia, and in neighboring countries of the former Soviet Union.

By using the widespread medium of television to deliver its message, the campaign has helped MOH recognise the need to work closely with the media and collaborating agencies. The MOH has since included public health communication as a line item in its annual budget, and the RFPA has institutionalized pretesting of communication outputs.

Russian women appear to be willing to accept alternatives to abortion as long as contraceptive methods and services are made available by trained providers who strongly promote family planning.