NEW YORK, Sept. 28, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- McCann Health
and McCann Worldgroup India today announced that The Immunity
Charm™ campaign for The Afghanistan Ministry of Public Health
(MoPH) won a Grand Clio for Product Design and a Black
Pencil at D&AD Impact Awards at ceremonies
held in New York City. The
D&AD Impact Awards Black Pencil recognizes creative excellence
and the power of creativity to make a real and positive difference
in the world.
In June, The Immunity Charm™ was awarded the prestigious Grand
Prix for Good at the 2017 Cannes Lions Health International
Festival of Creativity. The campaign, which harnesses deep rooted
cultural beliefs to save lives in Afghanistan, was further distinguished for
having won the most awards ever for a single campaign at Lions
Health. In addition to the Grand Clio, it picked up 3 more Golds
and one Silver at the 2017 Clio Awards.
The Immunity Charm™ is founded on the longstanding traditional
belief that bracelets confer protection against evil forces. It
takes that idea and provides mothers with a compelling new
incentive to get their children vaccinated. This simple bracelet
consists of colored beads that represent the vaccines each child
has received. With each immunization a specific colored bead
is added driving awareness of the importance of vaccines while
working within trusted cultural belief systems.
"Every year nearly 20 million children do not receive the
vaccines they require to protect them from preventable
diseases. The Immunity Charm™ will help mothers and doctors
be sure that every child gets the vaccines they need," said Dr.
Daniel Carucci, Senior Medical
Advisor, McCann Health and Dr.
Harshit Jain, Country Head
(INDIA), McCann
Health, co-creators of The Immunity Charm™.
Dr. Shafiqullah Hemat, Director of Health Promotion at the
Afghanistan Ministry of Public Health said: "In Afghanistan, we are
faced with many traditional biases against vaccinations. The
Immunity Charm provides us with a simple and powerful tool that is
based on the traditions in our communities so that we can create
greater confidence in vaccines among mothers and their
families. It's a wonderful idea that will save the lives of
many children."
John Cahill and Jeremy Perrott, Global CEO and Chief Creative
Officer for McCann Health respectively said: "The partnership we
have created between McCann Health and the Afghanistan MoPH has
allowed us to delve deeply into cultural belief systems to create a
solution that will become viral within the community because is
comes from the community."
Prasoon Joshi, Chairman McCann
Worldgroup Asia Pacific CEO & CCO McCann Worldgroup India,
said, "I'm very proud that The Immunity Charm has been recognized
not only for creative excellence but for making a real and positive
difference in the world. When an idea is seeded into culture and
plays a meaningful role in people's life, the impact and salience
is far reaching."
Healthcare workers provide The Immunity Charm™ to mothers to
place on their newborn's wrist as a symbol of protection against
disease. Each time the child is brought for an immunization,
a color-coded bead corresponding to the specific vaccine received
is added to the bracelet symbolizing the protective effects of the
vaccine. As the child receives additional vaccines against
such diseases as measles, polio, diphtheria, and others,
color-coded beads are added to the bracelet.
Afghanistan has some of the
lowest vaccination rates in the world, which contribute to high
levels of infant and childhood mortality especially in poor and
rural communities. Diseases that are rare in the developed
world are far too frequent causes of child mortality in
Afghanistan.
Plans are being developed to test The Immunity Charm™ for
effectiveness through a series of studies in Afghanistan, India, and other countries.
About the Ministry of Public Health Afghanistan
The
Mission of the Ministry of Public Health of the Government of the
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is
to prevent ill health and achieve significant reductions in
mortality in line with national targets and sustainable development
goals and to reduce impoverishment due to catastrophic health
expenditure. Also to be responsive to the rights of all citizens
through improving access and utilization of quality, equitable,
affordable health and nutrition services among all communities
especially mothers and children in rural areas, and through
changing attitudes and practices, promoting healthy life-styles and
effectively implementing other public health interventions. All in
coordination and collaboration with other stakeholders within the
framework of strong leadership, sustained political will and
commitment, good governance, and effective and efficient
management; in its continuous pursuit to become a ministerial
'institution of excellence'.
About McCann Worldgroup
McCann Worldgroup, part of the
Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG), is a leading global marketing
services company with 24,000 employees in more than 100 countries,
comprising McCann (advertising), MRM//McCann (digital
marketing/relationship management), Momentum Worldwide (total brand
experience), McCann Health (professional/dtc communications), CRAFT
(global adaptation and production), UM (media management), Weber
Shandwick (public relations), FutureBrand (consulting/design), and
PMK-BNC.
About McCann Health
McCann Health, winner of the
Cannes Lions Healthcare Network of the Year Award for two years in
a row and the Global Awards Healthcare Network of the Year for five
consecutive years, is one of the world's most awarded global
healthcare marketing networks specializing in a wide array of
professional and consumer health and wellness practices. McCann
Health (www.mccannhealth.com) consists of three strong
marketing communications global networks: McCann Torre Lazur, McCann Healthcare
(professional) and McCann HumanCare (consumer health &
wellness). Specialty units include McCann Echo, McCann Global
Health, McCann Pharmacy Initiative, Consulting at McCann
Health, McCann Managed Markets and McCann Complete Medical. McCann
Health is part of McCann Worldgroup and the Interpublic Group
(NYSE: IPG). The Immunity Charm™ is being developed in partnership
with Global Health Consulting, Inc.
www.globalhealthconsulting.com.
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