PATH Vietnam Painting and Poster Contests to Raise TB Awareness

With that view, in 2012, the Vietnam National TB Program (NTP) and PATH organised two national contests to involve more partners and the public in TB control:

• a national children’s painting contest with the theme "My dream about a TB-free Vietnam" in collaboration with the Central Council of Young Pioneers, Vietnam Youth’s Union; and
• a national poster designing contest with the theme "Towards a TB-free Vietnam," in collaboration with Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism.

These two contests aimed to educate the public about TB facts and encourage their involvement in reaching the NTP’s goal of eliminating TB in Vietnam. In particular, these contests aimed to help reduce TB stigma by disseminating TB messages and familiarising the public with TB issues via mass media and through workshops, a final ceremony, and painting exhibitions throughout Vietnam. The events also helped raise the public voice to advocate for better understanding of TB and sustainable funding for TB control to central and local governments. Finally, the contests contributed to a database of pictorial materials for future communication campaigns by NTP and all stakeholders.

The contests were open to the entire country beginning in August 2012 and culminated in two public exhibitions and award ceremonies in December 2012. The national painting contest received 1.5 million paintings from children in all 63 provinces. The panel of judges awarded the "Special Prize" to Pham Thien An, aged 7, from Hai Duong province, for the painting “Protect my school from TB”. The national poster designing contest received 296 posters from artists and art students. A panel of artists and arts faculty awarded the first prize, which highlights facts about pulmonary TB in Vietnam, to Truong Quang Tung, a student at the Vietnam University of Fine Arts. Professor Dinh Ngoc Sy, Director of National Lung Hospital and leader of Vietnam NTP, expressed his appreciation for these activities as an innovative way to communicate TB issues and generate interest among the whole society to participate in TB control. As Professor Sy stated during the poster contest commemoration, "Many participants began the contest with little to no knowledge on TB. With information provided by the NTP and individual research, they’ve developed beautiful art to relay their understanding of the information and to inform others about the risks of TB in Vietnam."

These paintings and posters are being stored in an electronic database for future use in mass media campaigns for TB prevention, care, and support by all TB partners in Vietnam and shared among the global networks.

After the two contest, PATH Vietnam organised some follow-up events to celebrate World TB Day 2013, including a public one-week art exhibition with the theme “My dream of a TB-free Vietnam”, displaying 150 paintings and posters and an exhibition during the 4th Conference of The Union Asia-Pacific Region, “Optimal use of new technology and approach” in Hanoi, Vietnam, April 10-13. PATH also compiled winning paintings and posters into booklets and a set of 20 postcards for national and international distribution.

Tuberculosis.