In Peru, the co-design process began in March 2023, involving community and health workers in selected Andean communities within the Piura region. In August 2024, three intervention products were validated, incorporating stakeholder feedback to ensure readiness for implementation in 2025.
The COHESION-I Project is currently finalizing its co-design process in Peru. This participatory process aims to open a dialogue among various stakeholders in the healthcare system to build and define health interventions. The co-design process helps to sustain stakeholder engagement with the project and could potentially facilitate the sustainability of the intervention outcomes beyond the project.
The co-design process began in March 2023 with the selection of communities and initial coordination with national and regional authorities in northern Peru. In October 2023, a series of interviews, and workshops with community members and health workers were conducted to gather their experiences, needs, and expectations regarding the types of interventions that could be carried out with the project. Based on the data collected through the interviews and the co-design workshops, a proposal of four intervention components was designed, which are scheduled for implementation in 2025.
In terms of the intervention components, in Peru, the first one focuses on community members – particularly those with chronic conditions or the long-term effects of neurocysticercosis. This component consists of disseminating audio messages via radio and social media (e.g., WhatsApp). It comprises three different types of outputs: (a) spots, (b) a set of expert interview programs, and (c) a soap opera. The audio messages seek, among others, to encourage patients to prioritize their health.
The second intervention component consists of two products, one is intended to improve the overall skills of health workers and their interpersonal communication to facilitate their interaction with patients. This will be done through a capacity-building program that includes the development of educational material covering clinical aspects of diabetes, hypertension, and neurocysticercosis, as well as social skills. The second product is a tool for patient-health professional communication support. The tool is called “COHESION-I Cards” and is a set of laminated cards organized into seven areas, with specific questions that respond to common concerns of patients regarding their health conditions. The COHESION-I Cards seek to promote greater dialogue between health workers and patients of the health services, enabling them to clear up their doubts or fears and deepen their understanding of their conditions. Likewise, health workers can take the opportunity to delve deeper into aspects that they consider need to be reinforced.
Lastly, a third intervention component will provide financial resources to improve the local health facilities. The co-design workshops helped to shape and validate the specific characteristics of these three intervention components.
By August 2024, the four intervention products were already validated through consultations with various stakeholders, ensuring that the content of the proposals was aligned with their needs and expectations, which required the COHESION-I Project to make necessary adjustments to finalize the interventions before implementation in 2025.
We are approaching the end of the co-design phase in Peru. Out of the six total steps in the co-design process, we are currently in steps 5 and 6, which involve validating the intervention products and making final adjustments.
The next stage consists of the implementation of the interventions, and it will start in mid-2025.