Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. 6 April 2023. Through an agreement signed November 8, 2022 the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) became the recipient of financing to the tune of
€149,976.00 from the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) for the implementation of the Global Programme Digital Transformation in the Caribbean Region. This was based on CARPHA’s proposal developed in April 2022 for capacity development for audio messaging as a tool for community outreach to improve health-seeking behaviours in the Caribbean.
The overall objective of the project initiative is to improve access to public health education in the CARPHA Member States. Audiopedia, an open-source audible learning platform will be used and customised for the Caribbean context by integrating content on the priority public health diseases. Through a Public Health Audio Campaign, communities in five (5) countries namely Barbados, Belize, Curacao, Grenada, and Trinidad and Tobago, will be sensitised on COVID-19 vaccination, non-communicable diseases, HIV/AIDS and water, sanitation, and hygiene.
“Using a train-the-trainer approach, CARPHA will support the creation of a Caribbean Public Health Audio Campaign to develop credible, clear, and timely public health messages within CARPHA Member States. The target audience for this training will be health promotion and communication professionals, and local organisations responsible for creating public health messages. These will include non-governmental organisations, community-based organisations, and Ministries of Health,” stated Dr. Joy St. John, Executive Director of CARPHA.
Based on the lessons learned, guiding principles for the roll out of the platform Audiopedia.io in the Caribbean context will be developed and provided by the Audiopedia Academy. There will be a key partnership with Audiopedia Foundation, a German NGO that has been developing and pioneering accessible audio learning since 2016. The NGO will combine relevant, audio contents utilising localised experts' guidance with easily usable hardware and software.