Drama has become an effective tool to spread awareness of COVID-19 in rural areas.
At the Ungai District Health Facility in the Eastern Highlands Province, health workers have reported a positive attendance from the community and an increase in the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine after role plays through drama addressed cross cutting issues and the importance of COVID-19 vaccines.
Officer In-Charge of Nursing at the Ungai District Health Facility, Mr. Donny Bayupe reported this recently and added that he still strives to carryout vaccination programs in communities in Ungai District.
“Our previous approach to address vaccine hesitancy in the district wasn’t effective but we now see that drama is breaking the barrier of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.”
Mr. Donny further stated that, through collaboration with district health officers, PHA and Care International, Ungai communities have responded positively and that many people can now understand COVID-19 vaccinations.
“Drama is very effective tool, to communicate with people in the community, now I see that people have begun to understand the importance of COVID-19 vaccines because we have used drama to communicate the message.”
These are just some of the feedback received during the Ministerial Vaccine Task Force from the National Control Centre’s supervisory visits to the Eastern Highlands Provincial Health Authority, to witness improvement and counter its priorities.
The Vaccine Task Force visited Samoga Village in Ungai and deemed it a successful one, where an estimated 400 people over the age 18 received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The partnership was arranged by the EHP PHA and Care Internationals COVID-19 Response Project Team. Meanwhile, PNG is still in its pandemic phase and COVID-19 preventive measures are to be followed. Everyone should be aware of the protocols when they have COVID-19 symptoms.