Tanzania’s ‘Holela-Holela Itakukosti’ campaign goes viral in other African countries

By Guardian Reporter , The Guardian

Published at 10:45 AM Jun 20 2024

Photo: Guardian Reporter

Participants of the 14th Best Practices Forum and the 30th Directors Joint Consultative Committee (DJCC) Meeting in a group after witnessing the presentation of the “Holela-Holela Itakukosti” a social behavioral change multimedia campaign

Health experts and officials from the East, Central and Southern African region currently gathering in Arusha have lauded Tanzania’s newly launched campaign targeting to address antimicrobial resistance.

The campaign, ‘Holela-Holela Itakukosti” (Recklessness Will Cost You), which was launched at the end of May 2024, focuses on combating antimicrobial resistance and priority zoonotic diseases (diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans).

It highlights the need for actions to prevent antimicrobial resistance and the spread of priority zoonotic diseases across multiple sectors to increase public knowledge and evoke a sense of concern towards these issues. The campaign is coordinated by the Office of the Prime Minister in collaboration with Ministries of Health, Livestock and Fisheries, and the Vice President’s Office (Environment) and is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through Breakthrough ACTION project.

The “Holela-Holela Itakukosti” campaign was unveiled to health experts and officials from the East, Central and Southern African who are meeting in Arusha at the 14th Best Practices Forum and the 30th Directors Joint Consultative Committee (DJCC) Meeting over the weekend, whereby health officials in attendance applauded the campaign and its progressive efforts in the fight against antimicrobial resistance.

The campaign features KIDO, campaign ambassador wears a red and yellow capsule pill costume, symbolizing the highly misused type of antibiotics. The participants, hailing from East, Central, and South Africa, applauded the campaign and its creative approach. The innovative use of a relatable character like KIDO highlights the importance of creative and engaging methods in addressing serious public health challenges. This positive reception suggests a promising impact on promoting awareness and behavioral changes to overcome antimicrobial resistance and zoonotic diseases.

“Many countries have expressed interest to emulate Tanzania’s campaign as a best practice in addressing antimicrobial resistance through an artistic, yet scientific style of impacting knowledge to ordinary people,” stated the National Antimicrobial Resistance Coordinator from the Ministry of Health, Emiliana Francis.

According to Ms Francis, some countries within the African region have even requested to invite KIDO – who is the Ambassador of the ‘Holela-Holela Itakukosti’ campaign and Wamwiduka Band (traditional music group) that produced the Holela Holela itakukosti song to support their efforts against indiscriminate use of antibiotics.

KIDO is a character who adorns a red and yellow pill costume symbolizing the highly misused and overused form of antibiotics.

A section of participants at the 14th Best Practices Forum and the 30th Directors Joint Consultative Committee (DJCC) Meeting in Arusha keenly followed the presentation of the "Holela-Holela Itakukosti" campaign, a multimedia social behavioral change campaign which aims at promoting positive behaviors to combat antimicrobial resistance and zoonotic diseases through a One Health approach. The campaign's creative approach, exemplified by the engaging character KIDO a campaign ambassador in red and yellow pill costume, resonated well with participants from East, Central, and South Africa. This positive feedback underscores the potential impact of innovative, multimedia strategies in promoting audience engagement and behavioral change to combat antimicrobial resistance and zoonotic diseases.

Earlier, Ambassador Mpoki Ulusubisya, who is an expert medical trainer pointed out that, with lack of stringent regulations on the marketing of antibiotics, many people have been misusing these drugs to self-medicate themselves on whichever illness they experience.

“We are heading in the same direction as Chloroquine, a drug which used to be very effective in curing malaria but is no longer in use due to its misuse that later resulted into resistance,” said Dr Ulusubisya.

He said most people use antibiotics to treat viral infections without consulting medical experts, while others only use partial dosage and as a result bacteria develop resistance to them.