Broadcasting messages on mass media to raise awareness of the public about salt intake reduction to prevent and control hypertension and stroke on TV and radio nationwide

1. Purpose of the Consultancy

The APW holder will be tasked to arrange for broadcasting messages to raise awareness of the public about salt intake reduction to prevent and control hypertension and stroke through arranging for broadcasting messages on TV and radio nationwide.

2. Background

According to WHO estimation, the deaths caused by cardio-vascular diseases (CVDs) mainly strokes and heart attack account for 31% of total deaths in Viet Nam. Hypertension is a very important cause of CVDs and excessive use of salt is a critical risk factor of hypertension. Raising public awareness on salt intake reduction through national campaign is one of the best buy interventions recommended by WHO for prevention and control of NCD.

Since late 2019, WHO has worked with the Resolve To Save Lives (RTSL), an initiative of the Vital Strategies to support Ministry of Health to implement two national mass media campaigns to reduce sodium consumption across the population. The campaigns seek to contribute to a reduction of average population salt intake by 30% by 2025 compared to 2015. This will result in substantially reduced burden of CVD and other NCDs. It will also contribute to reduction of severe progress and deaths caused by COVID-19 because people with NCD are more vulnerable to become severely ill or dying if suffering from the disease.

The first national mass media campaign to reduce sodium consumption across the population in Viet Nam had been implemented for eight weeks from 19 Aug to 11 October 2020 and then for additional four weeks from 10th Dec 2020 to Jan 10th2021 through signing an APW contract with a media company- which was selected via a competitive bidding process. The TV spot was broadcasted in popular channels of the North, Central and South regions including VTV1, VTV3, VTV8, HTV7, HTV9, Vinh Long 1, Vinh Long 2 and Today TV. The radio spot was broadcasted in traffic VOV in Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh city but only in the first phase, from 19 August to 11 October 2021.

Based on positive results of the evaluation of the first campaign, WHO has supported for the second campaign including broadcasting messages on national TV channels and transportation VOV for 12 weeks, from Oct to December 2021. The campaign was kept almost the same as the first one. In addition, WHO has also supported to develop and post 10 videos on salt intake reduction on social media.

Recently, the primary results from STEPS 2021 showed that the average salt consumption of Vietnamese people reduced 16% compared to that of 2015, from 9.4 gram to 7.9 gram. It can be inferred that the first national campaign significantly contributed to this reduction because before this campaign, communication on salt reduction was carried out only in small scale (the results of the second campaign are not contributed to this achievement because data collection of STEPS 2021 was completed by March 2021 when the second campaign is not yet started). With this, we can conclude that the national campaigns on salt reduction are very effective.

To continue to promote salt intake reduction in Viet Nam, WHO will support for another campaign on salt reduction in 2022 including broadcasting messages on mass media and social media. The broadcasting time on mass media should be covered during the TET holiday when many Vietnamese will be gathering and spending time together during meals. Given the limitation of budget, the broadcasting time will be 4 weeks from late of January to late February 2022. The TV spot will be one of 10 videos being developed.

3. Planned timelines (subject to confirmation)

• Start date: 28 January 2022
• End date: 28 February 2022
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4. Work to be performed

Output 1: The TV and radio spots will be broadcasted on major TV and radio channels in the North, Central and South to reach general population focusing on the one from 15 years old.

Deliverable 1.1: Develop and submit details of the proposed national broadcast plan with following details (note: the application should include proposed national broadcast plan):

• • The plan should be for broadcasting both the 30 second TV and radio spots.
• • The plan should provide a list of proposed programs for placing the TV and radio spots and explanation of the program content including proposed number of spots and distribution.
• • The 30 second TV spot should be broadcasted on at least three major TV channels of the three regions to be proposed by bidders with evidence of the channel popularity. The expected frequency of broadcasting is 3 days/week in 16 weeks and the timeframe from 17:00 to 21:00 should be included.
• • The 30 second radio spot should be broadcasted on VOV transportation in Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh city.
• • The television broadcast plan should aim to achieve 3+  reach (percentage of people who see  the messages at least 3 times) of at least 20% of people from 15 years old equally in all areas of Viet Nam.

Deliverable 1.2: Coordinate the implementation of the plan

• • Coordinate with TV and radio channels for the TV and radio spots to be broadcasted according to plan.
• • Monitor the TV broadcasting.

Deliverable 1.3: Submit a short weekly monitoring report and end-of-activity report.

• • Based on monitoring of the regular TV and radio spots broadcast, produce and submit to WHO a weekly tracking and performance report of the activity, where applicable.
• • Submit an end-of-campaign report.
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5. Technical Supervision

The selected Consultant/APW holder will work on the supervision of:

• Responsible Officer: Dr Lai Duc Truong, Technical Officer, DC-HE Team
• Manager: Ms Annie Chu, UHC-HLE Team Coordinator
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