Gold Circle Clinics Campaign - West Africa

JHU/CCP promoted GO (Gold Circle) sites through the mass media by broadcasting TV and radio spots and displaying posters and sign boards with the GO logo--a smiling provider with an outstretched hand--and the GO slogan "We are here to listen to you". Community participation was a principle aspect of the GO strategy. GO quality teams consisting of providers and community representatives planned local campaigns, including open clinic days, market days and health talks. Through community participation each new clinic attracted people in its own creative way. Apart from promotional material such as key chains, T-shirts and calendars, one site had hostesses wearing sandwich boards with family planning messages and another site featured a comedy choir of elderly women singing about GO.

Women, Health, Family Planning.

In order to receive the GO quality award the clinic was required to adhere to specific standards such as stocking a range of family planning methods, employing competent and informative counselors, minimal waiting times, report clinical data regularly and practice safe infection prevention techniques. After four phases, a total of 100 accredited GO clinics were set up across Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Togo and Cote d' Ivoire (unfortuneately, the political situation in Cote d' Ivoire made it impossible to collect evaluation data).

Because the clinics were promoted to be user friendly through a wide range of media, the numbers of new clients rose significantly, even six months after the initial launch. Exit surveys conducted when a new client completed a visit showed a great satisfaction with the performance of the GO clinics.