Public Health Promotion Campaign

Planning Phase

Brief About the Campaign

The campaign will mainly focus on the issue of diabetes in Australian society and how the pharmacists can help in combating the problem. The campaign will target the common people of Australian society and will also aim at spreading awareness among the people about diabetes. The campaign will have several well-trained doctors, nurses and pharmacists to make people know about the symptoms, the early signs and the prevention measures of the disease. The campaign will be held in different localities and will cover the cities as well as the sub-urban Ares of Australia (Miller et al. 2015). However, the campaign will also have free medicines and check up facilities for people, suffering from diabetes.

Role of Pharmacist

A pharmacist pays multiple roles in the health care system of a country and is responsible for the betterment of the health of people. Pharmaceutical society of Australia is one of the leading pharmacies in Australia and it can employ a number of pharmacists to perfectly address the issues of diabetes (Miller et al. 2015). The pharmacists can take active role in the health care campaign and provide the patients with medicines that would help them to recover at the earliest. They can also monitor that how well the medicines are working and what are the effects of it. Apart from this they can also highlight the main reasons behind the diabetic condition of people in society and how that can be effectively prevented. Diagnosis, prevention, healing are some of the issues that the pharmacists can address.

Significance of the Topic to the Local Community

The local community of Australia is not very much aware about this disease since it is not something grave or serious like other diseases. However, in recent times people are becoming aware of this disease and are also finding ways to prevent it (Abraham 2014). The area like coastal region of Queensland, Karridale, Innaloo and so on are mainly inhabitated by people of poor income group and therefore they can afford to eat healthy and stay fit so as to prevent diabetes. Though in developed areas like, Perth, Melbourne and so on the people are quite aware of this disease and also takes effective steps to prevent it (Ranc et al. 2014). Due of low or poor economic condition of some communities, buying insulin becomes difficult for them and that even leads to death. On the contrary the customers belonging from good income group buys the best insulin as prescribed by the doctors or the pharmacists.

Risk Factor Associated with the Condition

There are some major risk factors that are associated with this diabetic condition. Over the time it damages the large and the small blood vessels of human body along with brain, heart and kidney damage (Ranc et al. 2014). Insulin is actually an important component of human body and if that is not produced by the body then it becomes a serious issue. However, kidney damage is the most important risk factor that is associated with this disease and therefore to combat this artificial insulin is injected from outside to the patient’s body. It disrupts the process of transforming glucose to energy and thereby the body becomes weak. High blood pressure and lower or poor eye sight are also some of the risk factors that are associated with this condition.

Selection of Method to Identify People at Risk

Several basic and simple methods can be employed to identify people at risk. Blood test is the fast and the foremost method to identify whether a person is having diabetes or not. Blood test tells the amount of sugar level in a person’s body and that eventually tells that if he is having diabetes. This selection of method is done very meticulously after many researches and studies of this disease (Marquard et al. 2015). However the recent new technique in Australia for diabetes detection is observing the auto-fluorescence of the eyes and the skin.

Lifestyle and Therapies That may Influence the Risk Factors

A healthy lifestyle can prevent this disease along with good eating
habits. Consumption of too much sugar or sweet can be prevented so that there is less chance of incurring diabetes. Eating adequate amount of fresh fruits and less consumption of starchy foods is also one of the key lifestyle theories to prevent this disease (Abraham 2014). However, other lifestyle therapies like reducing the stress factor from life, consuming flax seeds, basil leaves and amla juice can reduce the risk factor. Some free hand exercise and keeping the weight in control is also very effective in reducing the chance of incurring the disease. Other than these some medical therapies like, antigen therapies, weight reducing therapies and so on can be done to reduce the risk factors. Injection therapy is also one of the ways to keep diabetes in control.

Design Phase

Organization of the campaign

The second step to creating an effective campaign is to plan effectively beforehand and make amendments when required. The first step required for the Diabetes campaign to become successful in reaching more people is to make sure that there are enough resources to cover the campaign requirement. The first step to the success of the campaign that is to be held in the Australian cities and sub urban areas require the use of pepper promotion or the way to reach to the people. Any camping needs to be properly promoted so that people know about the drive and are able to take advantage of the campaign. There is also the requirement that is to be aware of the right ways to reach more people. Since most times, the diabetes drive will target local people living within the radius of 5-8 kilometres, handing out brochures, leaflets and other educational materials will be the right method. The first information that needs to be presented in these brochures and materials is the need for a check-up for diabetes, how it is common problem and can happen to anyone. Also there is a need to make sure that the people reading it feel confident and assured that they can have their check-up done. Most people do not take advantage of these free drives; it should be highlighted that a small check-up can help them benefit from the various services provided. Also it needs to be highlighted that free checkups will be done, the easy process for testing and the benefits. There is also the need to provide training for the staff, so that they know what they should expect and how they shall perform at the campaign. Also there must a good mix of mediums to raise awareness about diabetes, and these should include the community and its members. The first step towards creating a campaign is to create a concept which is easy to associate with your pharmaceutical company, and select a theme and colour scheme to go with the issues as well as the brand image. For the campaign supplies the needed resources must be marked and the whole sellers and manufacturers must be emailed or contacted for supplies and discounts. The reposes for the campaign must be sourced beforehand and the associated professionals in the Diabetes prevention community can be included as well as the local groups. The mid aged people are more prone to diabetes so they need to be made aware through the promotional methods. The location should be finalized and the service details must be created. For these campaigns the locations should include different communities and should help people become aware of diabetes, the different type of diabetes, the methods that can be used for diabetes care, and the methods to decrease the adverse effects... The camping’s success shall be measured through the number of people who turn up for each camp, how many become interested in the services of the pharmaceutical company as well as how they associated out services afterwards. Since free medication shall be provided, once they like the medication and its effects they shall use them afterwards, increasing sales.

Budget and Value for Money

The campaign also needs a budget and it should be created beforehand to keep all the expenses and earnings tabulated and noted in a presentable way. Planning and creating a budget also provides an easy method for the planners as well as volunteers to have a clear knowledge about what they can spend and how they can save more. There are some costs that need to be estimated for the campaign, and these include- the cost for (A) Brochure and leaflet printing (B) Cost for location (C) Telephone and postage costs for invitation (D) Staff costs for training and other costs that are short term costs but there are also long term expense like hiring a part time person for consulting in the campaigns. There is also the need to evaluate the benefits of the campaign- the needed short term benefits are gaining prospective customers, increasing brand awareness and introducing new products and being aware of the various long term benefits that can be derived from the campaigns. The success of these campaigns needs to be judged and if they are successful, it can be used as a yearly or monthly as a promotional method.

Implementation Phase

Marketing and Merchandising

There were a number of marketing materials used for the Diabetes Campaign; these were distributed through people, and through the use of local communities and community workers. One single campaign was preceded with several other campaigns in other local communities with great results. The marketing products used were flyers – 1500 no’s and brochures 900 no’s through the method of distributing in local community groups a d through the pharmaceutical company staff and workers. Also the use of newspaper articles were used to highlight the campaigns as well as using schools to increase awareness abbot the event was done. There were other methods implemented tie increase awareness; online giveaways were used as well as local newspaper ads were placed to increase awareness.

Staffing

There is a need for great staff to handle the campaigns as effective and knowledgeable staff can handle the queries as well as know what to do with the people who are coming for the screening and testing. There are various phases that need to be followed; the first step is the promotional step, which was carried out by the company, as well as the helping ion the actual event which was done by trained staff from the pharmaceutical company as well as the community members who were trained to perform in the campaign. The people were provided enough training to help them run the needed projects effectively and help more people get screened in fast way. The staffing requirement was also completed through assigning local healthcare providers, who were trained and provided special training to answer all the queries that could arise from the people taking part in the activities.

Community Activity

The community played important role in helping the healthcare professionals and the company create better awareness about diabetes and through the active participation by the community leaders d the activities created by the members of the communities, the effects of the camping were able to reach more people than expected, a s well as created a nice way to keep a close communication with the people,. This helped to lower the cost for hiring men for the job as well as increased the number of people these community members referred afterward doing their advice sessions. These were also helped through the methods to increase the methods that were used by the community members to help other people gain insight into how they can take help form the healthcare providers and get better advice and health facilities for their diabetes concern. The other effects were also through the sense of security that the local people felt confiding their efforts to people they were aware as a community active participant.

Barriers and Enablers

There were a lot of support from the people and the community but there were also a few barriers that slowed down the community activities. There is also the matter that the community members of the area were quite supportive but the people in the selected community were not financially stable to offer financial help for the camping, which reduced the budget of the campaign and the lack of a properly equipped place to conduct the camping made it a requirement to lease an area for the camping which increased the spending for the company. Also the people in the community were not really prepared for the initiative and they were sometime not accompanied by a number of people turning up for the campaign, which were more than what was expected, creating a shortage of seating arrangements and needed additional waiting time and effort even prepared physically for the testing, and some also were too afraid to conduct the screening. These were also for the campaign. The good part is the extended reach for the campaign and also the fact that the community members, although unable to provide more monetary help, provided great help as volunteers.

Evaluation Phase

The Campaign was completed with great joy as the planned amount of reach was exceeded and more people turned up than it was initially thought of. The campaign was targeted at generating response from around 1500 prospective patients who were expected to get their check-up done through the campaign, but the campaign received better results and got more than 2000 visitors throughout the Two day drive. The first and foremost expectation for the camping was to create awareness within the people in the area to help them become aware of the different problems associated with diabetes, the symptoms and when one should get a screening done. The expected results were made, with community members and local social workers generating great awareness through the marketing and awareness materials used by the pharmacists. The total costs of the campaign include the staffing costs, cost for venue booking, decoration and accommodation, cost for the pharmaceutical supplies, as well as for food costs for the people involved. Also the camping cost includes marketing costs, which were all necessary to generate campaign awareness. For future events like this, in the same locality, significantly smaller marketing costs shall be included, and this can also be lowered by using internet based marketing tools, and also by conducting the camp the same time each year. The objective was to create a better impression for the company as well as create a larger consumer base which were both successful through the campaign. The costs incurred will be covered up through the follow up visits from the people as well as through the sales generated through the people who took part in the camping. There is also the fact that the costs could have been a bit lowered through the use of other marketing techniques which could have been implemented to reduce the costs. But just creating the campaign will not result in the sustainable results for the company. There needs to be follow up campaigns and small quarterly or half yearly follow up campaigns or free screenings for people in order o keep the effects of the campaign rolling. The flow-on effect of the camping was the increase in sales about 25% in the following month and the next two months at 21% and 18% than usual. The staff through felt it was difficult to screen such huge number of people in small time, felt happy with the increased sales and the consumers are also educated in better way, they are now knowledgeable in the topics of diabetes and how to detect and take care of the people who have this condition. The campaign’s success was that it was wholeheartedly appreciated by the people, and their perceptions were also traced through a feedback form that was presented afterwards. These are clear indicators of the success of the camping. Aloes the people participating were sent feedback and follow up forms to gain insight into how they feel after being screened and being able to understand the effects of the health condition. These people were presented with some clear questions, the first were whether or not the people found the screening to be helpful for them, and whether  they felt comfortable in the screening process. The second was whether they knew about diabetes and its effects and also knew about the ways to find out about the condition. Also the people were asked whether they have gained better insight into the way diabetes affects the health den how it can be controlled. There is also the requirement from the pharmacy to create better sources for improving their feedback as well as use the feedbacks provided by the people to implement in their future campaigns.

Conclusion

It is therefore understood that how a health campaign can be useful and helpful in reducing the risk factors and also in spreading awareness among people. Several therapies and medical process also comes into discussion and shows that how it can be useful for the society. However, the campaign also shows the role of the pharmacists and pharmacy in developing the health condition of the Australian society along with some medical facilities for them. The campaign not only speeds awareness about diabetes but also shows how it can severely affect the whole functioning of a human body.

References

• Miller, K.M., Foster, N.C., Beck, R.W., Bergenstal, R.M., DuBose, S.N., DiMeglio, L.A., Maahs, D.M. and Tamborlane, W.V., 2015. Current state of type 1 diabetes treatment in the US: updated data from the T1D Exchange clinic registry. Diabetes care.
• Roumie, C.L., Greevy, R.A., Grijalva, C.G., Hung, A.M., Liu, X., Murff, H.J., Elasy, T.A. and Griffin, M.R., 2014. Association between intensification of metformin treatment with insulin vs sulfonylureas and cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality among patients with diabetes. Jama.
• Ranc, K., Jørgensen, M.E., Friis, S. and Carstensen, B., 2014. Mortality after cancer among patients with diabetes mellitus: effect of diabetes duration and treatment. Diabetologia.
• Gonzalez, J.S., Shreck, E., Psaros, C. and Safren, S.A., 2015. Distress and type 2 diabetes-treatment adherence: A mediating role for perceived control.Health psychology.
• Behloul, N. and Wu, G., 2013. Genistein: a promising therapeutic agent for obesity and diabetes treatment. European journal of pharmacology.

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