For the first time in Uganda, the Ministry of Health is running its annual Uganda Social Marketing Conference (USMC) from 12th to 13th October, 2017 at Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala.
A big deal in the West and East Asia, these conferences bring together stakeholders from the public, private and commercial sectors, funders, practitioners, academicians, policy makers and researchers to share best practices, build capacity and nurture the social marketing field in Uganda for accelerated improvement on key Health sector indicators
According to the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary Dr. Diana Atwine, the country’s pioneer conference will provide an opportunity to all Social Marketing practitioners in Uganda and across Africa to learn from each other and from experts all over the world.
“The Ministry of Health employs Social Marketing as one of the key strategies to increase access, demand and utilization of healthcare products and services to the people in the hard to reach areas through the private sector,” Dr. Atwine said in a statement on Wednesday.
“New ideas and evidence based approaches will be presented by thought leaders in the field of Social Marketing.”
The conference will focus on employing marketing principles to influence behaviors for social good, the organisers explain.
According to analysts, Uganda’s health ministry has moved into the right direction seeking to use these social platforms to roll out public health campaigns, improve knowledge and attitudes toward certain health behaviors, offer virtual health coaching or medical services and create online support groups for individuals living with various illnesses.
