It is estimated that there are approximately 30,000 people living with HIV (PLHIV) in Jamaica as of December 2022. More than 80% of these persons are aware of their HIV positive status and have been linked to treatment and care services. Once linked, PLHIV have access to a range of clinical, psychological and social services that are available to help them live healthy, productive lives. The challenge however is that only about 70% of persons linked are retained in care. This means that more than 8,000 PLHIV are not accessing lifesaving treatment and care services. There is documented evidence, which shows that the risk of progression to AIDS, other serious illnesses or death is significantly reduced among people who initiate treatment shortly after HIV diagnosis. In order to maintain optimal health people living with HIV (PLHIV) must continue their treatment regimen by not only adhering to medication but also maintain medical appointments for monitoring and intervention where necessary.
Clinic appointments for PLHIV are usually once or twice per year for stable patients. Others with ongoing challenges are seen more often. If someone has missed appointments for 12 months or more they are not considered to be retained in care. The Ministry of Health and Wellness has been working assiduously to keep patients in care through various mechanisms. These include reminder phone calls, text messages, home visits and other social interventions. There is however a need to strengthen efforts on the ground through public education, generating support and encouragement for PLHIV to stay in care.
Against this background, the Ministry of Health is seeking to hire a communications firm to develop a mass media campaign aimed at improving retention in care for PLHIV.
Benefits to retention in care
- Access to medical treatment at no cost
- Access to diagnostic testing at no cost
- Monitoring of viral load
- Viral suppression
- Access to antiretroviral drugs (HIV medication)
- Access to psychological and social services
- Better health outcomes
Reasons for non-retention in care
- Stigma and discrimination
- Non-acceptance/denial of HIV status
- Lack of personal support system
- Nondisclosure
- Migration
- Long wait times at treatment sites
- Alternative medication
- Negative side effects of medication and pill fatigue
Campaign Goal:
The Retention in Care campaign is aimed at encouraging PLHIV to continue accessing HIV treatment services and for those who have defaulted from care to return to care by highlighting the benefits of maintaining treatment.
Campaign objectives:
- To compliment on the ground efforts aimed at keeping patients in care by maintaining clinic appointments.
- Encourage persons who are lost to follow up to return to care.
- Highlight the importance of maintaining treatment.
Primary audience
The primary target audience are people living with HIV (PLHIV) who have defaulted from care. Based on the available data the most suitable representative may be a male between the ages 25-49. This will be confirmed during formative assessment, which will guide campaign development. The formative assessment may also be used to develop a profile of the patient that is most likely to be lost to follow up.
Secondary audience
Partners, family members, Health Care Workers: This can be anyone who can be considered part of a support system for PLHIV.
Call to action/main message
- Stay in care
- Come back to care
Methodology
Formative assessment:
Focus group discussions and informant interviews will be conducted with the target audience. Both rural and urban treatment sites will be included in the data gathering process. It may be useful to gather information from a site that has made significant gains with retention as well as a site that is struggling.
The suggested sites are: Mandeville Comprehensive Clinic (MCC), St Jago Health Centre, Maxfield Park Health Centre or Windward Road Health Centre. The input of civil society partners, JN+ and Jamaica AIDS Support for Life will also play a role in guiding the process.
Media Products:
Traditional mainstream media remains the most popular outlet for delivering HIV messages according to the 2017 KABP survey. The media formats are:
- 30-second television commercial
- 15-second television commercial
- 7- sec time signal TV
- 30-second radio commercial
- 15-second radio commercial
- 7-sec time signal radio
- Social media content (Infographics and video-graphics)
- Web banners
- Pull up banners
- Billboards design
- Bus shelter design
- JUTC bus advertisements
Pretesting:
Media products will be submitted in draft for pretesting among the target audience. The results and recommendations from the pre-test report will be used to make final edits to the media products. The changes will be made to ensure that the messages and materials are appropriate and acceptable by the intended target audience. Pretesting of materials will be conducted by an independent third party researcher with experience in conducting this type of research.
Deliverables:
Materials should be delivered in high-resolution large file format. All materials, E.g. 30 second radio commercial, 30 second television commercial, social media content, and billboard art work should be delivered on an electronic storage device e.g. Jump drive
Scope of Work
The contracted marketing/communications firm will be required to provide the following services:
- Conduct three focus group discussions with the target population
- JN+ membership
- Jamaica AIDS Support for Life
- Eve for Life
- Conduct three key informant interviews
- Clinician
- Social Worker or Psychologist
- Jamaica Network of sero-positives- Executive Director
- Develop media campaign materials for placement on radio, television, social media and outdoor media.
- Meet with the technical advisory panel throughout the campaign development process.
- Revise materials based on feedback from the technical panel as well as based on the recommendations of the pretesting of draft materials
Qualifications
The selected marketing/communications firm should possess the following:
- At least 5 years of operation as a marketing/communication firm with proven track record of producing effective high quality media campaign products
- Members of the team should possess at minimum at first degree in media and communications, marketing or communications
- Experience in development of health communications messages is an asset
- Working knowledge of issues around HIV Prevention, Treatment and Care would be an asset
Evaluation Criteria
The most suitable candidate will be contracted for the campaign. The agency is selected by way of a bidding process based on the following criteria. The company with the highest score will be contacted. The minimum score required is 75%.
All documents should be signed as instructed in the Request for Proposal. Failure to do so will result in disqualification.
| CRITERIA | SCORE | DOCUMENTS REQUIRED IN RFP |
| COMPANY’S EXPERIENCE/ QUALIFICATION – 40 | ||
| At least 5 years of operation as a marketing/communication firm with proven track record of producing effective high quality media campaign products | 20 | Company Profile |
| Members of the team should possess at minimum at first degree in media and communications, marketing or communications | 20 | Member’s Resume |
| UNDERSTANDING OF THE TERMS OF REFERENCE – 40 | ||
| Company demonstrates understanding of the work required to complete the mass media campaign | 40 | Research proposal framework for executing the mass media campaign. Must include mock-ups for deliverables. |
| FINANCIALS – 20 | ||
| The proposed budget is aligned with the amount in the Terms of Reference
FORMULA = Lowest price / bid under review price X criteria score |
20 | FIN Form
|
| TOTAL | 100 | |
Coordination and supervision
The consulting firm will be guided by a technical panel of the Ministry of Health and Wellness; Director, Treatment Care and Support, Adolescent Programme Manager, Behaviour Change Communications Coordinator and Senior Medical Officer.
Deliverables
| Deliverable | Due date | Budget % |
| Develop work plan outlining each step in the project and associated timelines | TBD
|
10%
|
| Develop FGD guide and prepare formative assessment report | ||
Draft scripts and artwork mock-ups for media products for review and feedback:
|
TBD | 20%
|
| Second draft scripts and artwork mock-ups for media products for review and feedback | TBD | 20%
|
| Provide materials in ready formats printed and electronically for pretesting. | TBD
|
25%
|
| Revise materials to reflect recommendations from pretesting | ||
| Provide final versions of material in high resolution electronic file formats on a jump drive | TBD
|
25%
|
Contract duration
The contract duration is five (5) months.