February 2006-May 2012

Overview

USAID’s COMPRI-A project used social marketing and behavior change communications to increase demand for, access to, and use of quality health products available through the private sector.  Target audiences included men and women of reproductive age and children less than five years of age, with a focus on rural and underserved areas.  The project educated the public about good health practices and promoted healthy behavior through print and broadcast media, personal community outreach, and training.  USAID also supported associations of health professionals and other organizations in order to improve oversight of the private health sector, advocate for key policies, and build stronger relationships and partnerships with the government.

Activities

• Behavior Change: Provided educational messages about maternal and child health through the media and community outreach to encourage healthy behavior.
• Product Sales and Distribution: Supplied affordable health products through the private sector (products included condoms, oral and injectable contraceptives, water purification solutions, and oral rehydration salts) and introduced new products to the market.
• Training and Community Outreach: Provided training and community outreach programs on birth spacing and maternal and child health to doctors, pharmacists, midwives, religious leaders, community councils, women’s groups, and school teachers.
• Certification of Private Health Providers: Improved the delivery of quality health products and services by training private sector healthcare providers in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH).
• Research, Monitoring, and Evaluation: Conducted studies used to develop marketing strategies, identify target audiences, monitor market share, and gauge public acceptance of health products and messages produced by the project.
• Policy and Advocacy: Stimulated private health sector distribution networks and created an improved policy environment for delivery of quality health products and services.
• HIV/AIDS Coordinating Committee of Afghanistan (HACCA): Supported the National AIDS Control Program through the HACCA Secretariat to coordinate donor and stakeholder activities throughout the country.

Accomplishments

• Subsidized the sale of more than 78,000,000 health product units, which include family planning commodities, contraceptives, and other related goods, through 5,315 outlets across the country.
• Trained 384,010 individuals on birth spacing, water purification, and use of oral rehydration salts.
• Reached more than 16 million Afghans nationwide through mobile cinema sessions, community health meetings, and 272,730 health message airings through television, radio, and other media.  
• Signed a partnership between the MoPH and the Afghanistan Private Hospitals Association to support the Tuberculosis Urban DOTS (Directly Observed Treatment- Short) program in eight private hospitals in Kabul City.
• Established the Office of Private Sector Coordination (OPSC) within the MoPH.
• Helped the Afghanistan Private Hospitals Association (APHA) conduct the first workshop on minimum standards required for private hospitals.
• Established the Afghan National Medicines Services Organization, made up of pharmaceutical and medical supply and equipment associations, to partner with the MoPH in improving the quality of health products in private sector.
• Provided support to Khalid Irshad Pharmaceuticals (KIP), which subsequently became the first International Standards Organization (ISO)-certified pharmaceutical company in the commercial history of Afghanistan.
• Launched the Afghan Social Marketing Organization (ASMO), a locally registered non-governmental organization (NGO), to continue and expand activities following the completion of the project.