A multi-media social awareness campaign to help combat the Zika virus that was researched and designed by RTI International has launched in Puerto Rico earlier this week.

And a similar plan could be coming to the U.S.

“Yes we are hoping to do some similar work in the United States,” RTI spokesperson Lisa Bistreich-Wolfe told WRAL TechWire, “but we haven’t started yet.”

However, the initial awareness program has a Puerto Rico focus.

“Much of the focus of the campaign, getting partners, family and community members to understand that they play a critical role in protecting pregnant women is very relevant to Zika prevention in the United States as is prevention mosquitos from getting in your home and removing standing water,”  Bistreich-Wolfe explained.

“The part of the campaign focused on community vector control, where groups go around draining standing water, is not something people have engaged in much in the US.”

Titled “#StopZika” on social media and “This is How We Stop Zika,” the Puerto Rico promotion, which is in Spanish, includes billboards, social media and TV as well as radio advertising.

“It’s time to come together as a community against the Zika virus,” the ads say.

The campaign “provides steps for pregnant women and communities to follow to protect themselves from Zika virus infection, mainly by taking actions to prevent mosquito bites and avoiding potential sexual transmission of the virus,” RTI noted.

“This is how we prevent the Zika virus” the ads say, noting steps to avoid transmission of the virus such as:

  • emptying standing water in tires, buckets and flower pots
  • putting ‘dunks’ (larvicide) into standing water, such as a small fountain
  • installing window screens in a home

Personal preventive steps include:

  • wearing long sleeves
  • using mosquito repellent

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC Foundation, the Puerto Rico Department of Health, and others announced plans for the campaign in May. RTI researched and provided the creative work. Supporters include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Walgreens and the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

An English version of the website also is available.

Zika is a growing threat in Puerto Rico as well as the United States. On Tuesday, a newly created hot zone map cited North Carolina’s coast as a potential Zika virus area.

“Given the link between Zika virus, microcephaly and other poor birth outcomes, there is now a crucial and immediate need to educate and empower pregnant women to protect themselves from contracting the Zika virus,” said Linda Squiers, Ph.D., senior health communications scientist at RTI and the director for RTI’s part of this project. “The goal of this campaign is to encourage pregnant women, their partners, and their communities to join together to prevent transmission of the Zika virus. The campaign shows the steps they each can take to protect themselves and each other from Zika infection. Given the tremendous harm that can come to babies if exposed to the Zika virus during pregnancy, the campaign will harness a universal motivation to protect babies.”

RTI is one of several Triangle-area firms involved in the Zika fight.

See the website at:

http://detenelzika.org/

The English version:

www.detenelzika.org