CCPH has continued to partner with lead community partners and local community-based organizations. Most recently we have been working on the programs, branded as Say Yes! COVID Test and You & Me COVID-Free.
We would like to share this update and give you access to the publication, Toolkit for Engaging Diverse Communities to Plan and Implement Public Health Programs.
Excerpt from the press release:
“Programs that distributed more than 2 million at-home COVID-19 tests to counties in North Carolina, Tennessee, and California with large underrepresented racial and ethnic populations were successful in getting test kits into the hands of community members and changing people’s behaviors in support of public health.
The programs, branded as Say Yes! COVID Test and You & Me COVID-Free, demonstrated a successful community-focused public health intervention that could be applied to future pandemics or health emergencies.
Funded by the National Institutes of Health, the at-home COVID-19 testing programs were led by the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI), UNC Center for Health Equity Research (UNC-CHER), and Community-Campus Partnerships for Health.
The program teams report three major findings:
• Community partnerships are an effective way to distribute at-home COVID-19 tests and encourage testing;
• COVID-19 testing can affect people’s behavior; and
• Wastewater surveillance is a good way to monitor how much COVID-19 is spreading in a community.”
A summary of the results can be viewed in this video:
The Toolkit:
CCPH worked with partners to develop a toolkit to share lessons learned and guide future community-engaged public health programs in underrepresented communities. This toolkit is for those interested in creating a community-engaged public health program, such as community leaders, researchers, project leaders, and communicators. We share lessons learned from two at-home testing initiatives —
Say Yes! COVID Test and You & Me COVID-Free, as well as insights from our community partners and academic research leaders.
