
Covid-19
A COnsumer-Powered
Aproach to COVID-19
COVID information, prevention, vaccines and treatment are integral to stemming the rising tide of global infections. PSI is at the frontline.
Since COVID's start, we've adapted 300 of our healthcare programs across PSI’s 40 countries – reaching 100+ million people with COVID-19 prevention and vaccine hesitancy communications.
But there's still more left to do. The good news: we're on it
From the community-level
to the national health systems
We're harnessing our 50+ years of expertise leading rapid evidence generation, social and behavior change interventions, private and public sector engagement, and digital solutions to support consumers to access and health systems to provide critical healthcare services, including COVID-19 vaccines and treatment.
- Mass media and social media campaigns that have reached over 100 million people with prevention messaging to support and reinforce behavior change.
- Support national vaccination delivery services.
- Disease surveillance digital tools that are being used within our private sector network and have been influenced by our long history in programs such as HIV/AIDS and malaria.
- Scaling up distribution of sanitation products, services, and handwashing stations.
- Supporting manufacturing and distribution of other commodities such as masks and PPE.
Workforce Training
PSI has developed innovative training modules to deploy over social media channels. Community health workers, providers and health workers in public and private facilities were able to access the training modules over platforms such as WhatsApp. The modules are bite-size and can be repeated as many times as the learner desires. Information retention rates and participation satisfaction have been much higher than the pre- pandemic in-situ forms of training. It has also reached many more vital health workers.
Public Health Emergency Operation Centers
Capacity building of Public Health Emergency Operations Centers (PHEOC) has reinforced governments’ abilities to take full sight of the pandemic in their countries and direct resources and policies accordingly. Partnerships with the governments of Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos, lead to the rapid increase in capacity of PHEOCs. These centers gather rich data from multiple sources that allow for rapid decision-making to respond and get ahead of the pandemic. PSI delivered:
- Training of government health workers
- Equipment and improved infrastructure
- Disease surveillance systems and associated dashboards for decision-making
understanding COVID-19
vaccine hesitancy
We’re in this together. We’re documenting our adaptations and sharing what we’ve learned to pool together best practices as we collectively respond to COVID-19.
And as vaccines become more accessible across the globe, we’re working alongside country teams and with diverse stakeholders to understand COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and build vaccine confidence.
Explore our interactive ArcGIS COVID-19 StoryMap
Adapting Safe Abortion Programs
in response toCOVID-19
This map specifically highlights how six international organizations adapted their safe abortion and post-abortion care (PAC) programs to the evolving COVID-19 context. The map captures their stories of resilience, digital innovation, and persistent advocacy to maintain access to safe abortions and PAC during the pandemic.
Visit our COVID-19 Safe Abortion Response Map.
Our
Impact
Here's how we've mitigated the effects of past and currently ongoing pandemics:
300 programs
adapted in response to COVID-19 across PSI's 40+ countries
100+ million
consumers reached with COVID-19 prevention and vaccine hesitancy communications
114.9 thousand
HIV Self-Testing kits distributed in 2019
2 million
maternal deaths prevented
400 million
insecticide-treated nets distributed since 1997. That's about 20 percent of the global insecticide-treated nets distributed to date.
Join us in fighting COVID-19
We’d love to partner with you. Outreach to one of the PSIers below for more information on how we can work together:
For governments and large foundations: Mark Adams, madams[at]psi.org
For philanthropists: Nancy Anderson, nanderson[at]psi.org
For corporate partners: Malcolm Quigley, mquigley[at]psi.org
For peer organizations: Dr. Eva Lathrop, elathrop[at]psi.org
If you’re interested in supporting PSI’s work now, click below.
Our
Experts


Malcolm Quigley
Head of Strategic Partnerships PSI Global
Julia Roberts
Vice President, Global Fundraising and Communications PSI Global
Abigail Winskell
Deputy Director, Global Marketing PSI
Dr. Milly Kaggwa
Senior Clinical Advisor for Africa PSI
Kristen Little
Senior Technical Advisor, Strategic Research PSI
Chris Purdy
Deputy Director, Digital Health and Monitoring PSI
John Sauer
Senior Technical Advisor, WASH PSILatest
Updates

COVID-19 catalyzed digital transformation for reproductive health
Consumer engagement on digital channels increased during COVID, providing PSI’s Social Business Unit an opportunity to leverage digital channels to support business continuity and provision of reproductive health information, products, and services.

“Wiring” Health Systems Improves Health Security. Here’s Why.
Public Health Emergency Operations Centers connect communities, healthcare providers and public health authorities to stop disease from turning into an epidemic.

Digital platforms can increase COVAX uptake. We explain.
How PSI is driving global behavior change for COVID-19 prevention and vaccine uptake using Meta tools.

WEBINAR: Building COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence through Social Media Behavior Change Campaigns
Social media campaigns are often a key approach to building COVID-19 vaccine confidence among connected consumers at scale. Through multi-sectoral partnerships (United Nations Sustainable Development

Tracking Outbreaks With Social Media Chatbots
By Shwetha Srinivasan, M&E Associate, Hoa Nguyen, Research Coordinator, PSI Vietnam and Bram Piot, Sr. Surveillance & Monitoring Advisor The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the need for innovative surveillance

How did global health adapt Safe Abortion and Post-Abortion Care to COVID-19? This map tells all.
Innovating to Ensure Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights During the Pandemic By Dr. Eva Lathrop, Global Medical Director, PSI and Lola Flomen,