Social Marketing for SRH Presented by: William Nnyombi Head Public & Private Partnerships

Background Worldwide, the burden of disability and premature death due to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) problems is enormous—and growing. Unsafe sex is the second most important cause of morbidity or untimely mortality among the world’s poorest populations, and the ninth most important cause in developed countries.

By definition-SRH is; “A state of complete physical, mental, social well-being and not merely the absence of disease in all matters relating to the reproductive system and to its functions and processes” Reproductive health therefore implies that people are able to have a satisfying and safe sex life and that they have the capability to reproduce and freedom to decide if, when, and how often to do so SRH care includes: improving Maternal and newborn care; providing high quality FP services, including fertility services; eliminating unsafe abortion; combating STIs including HIV, UTIs cervical cancer and other gynecological morbidities; and promoting healthy sexuality.

Social Marketing “Social marketing is a process that applies commercial marketing principles, tools and techniques to create, communicate and deliver value in order to influence target audience behaviors that benefit society and solve key social problems”. In this case, traditional marketing framework of People, product, price, place, and promotion are applied to communicate and influence behavior toward improvement of SRH. It helps understand who people are, what their SRH desires are, and then organizing the creation, communication, and delivery of SRH products and services to meet their desires

The desired Focus of Social Marketing Improved Equity Increased Access to Quality SRH services/products Maximize Cost-effectiveness Support Low income or disadvantaged populations access SHR services

The biggest Question?? How are we embracing the principles of Social Marketing to effectively promote SRH in Uganda????

“The People” Do we really understand our target Audience? Attitudes, Beliefs, behaviors,

Profiling and segmenting the SRH targeted Audience Secondary Audience Attitudes, knowledge levels, perceptions, practices Informs the; Product/service design & Packaging Appropriate Pricing Messaging & promotion Distribution and reach Segmenting the target Audience (Primary & Secondary) Life style profiling of the different target Audience segments. Common interests, Purchase power, level of education and exposure e.t.c Primary Audience Age brackets, geographical locations, cultural/religious affiliations,

SRH Product/Services

How do our products & Services meet the needs of our target Audiences? “Do we provide client choice or one size fits all” Is your product /service providing a solution to the targeted client’s problem/need? The big Question is; What are we selling to your target Audience Is your product or service matching the life styles of the target Audience? What are the unique product prepositions that can attract your target Audience? These might be physical or emotional

Pricing of Products/Services The price is the cost or barriers the target audience faces in changing its behavior. The price can be financial, but the more important costs are social and emotional, e.g., time, effort, lifestyle, and psychological costs. We need to conduct willingness to Purchase assessments amongst the business intermediaries as well as establishing pricing for sustainable business continuity Need to conduct willingness to pay reviews amongst the different target Audience

Place/Distribution The place is where the target audience will perform the desired behavioral change To ease access, interventions should be moved to places that the target audience frequents, or when they perform the current behavior. The BIG questions are; Are our products and services in the arms reach of our target Audience? Are the products in the faces of our target Audience on a regular basis? Do we do regular audits to access availability of our services/products? Other traditional barriers to access example accessing E.Cs from an Antenatal wing by the youth

Messaging & Promotion

Are our Products/service messaging aligned to the Audience segments? Messaging & Promotion Promotion relates to communication messages, materials, channels, and activities that will effectively reach the target audience about product (or service), place, and price variables. They include advertising, media relations, events, personal selling, entertainment, and direct mail. Social marketers may need to be very creative in the ways they promote products and services vis-à- vis sometimes hard-to-reach populations. The BIG questions are; Are our Products/service messaging aligned to the Audience segments? How do we make our messaging for products/services memorable (positive emotions) like the commercial sector?