Macular Degeneration: the leading cause of blindness in senior citizens

Have you ever imagined how your life would be if you couldn’t see? Or how differently you would see things around you if you needed (or didn’t need) glasses?

Our vision naturally changes as we grow older, but sometimes it can be more serious than simply adjusting a prescription. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness among people over 50 years old.

AMD is a damaging of the macula, the central part of the retina responsible for sharpness, color and quality of an image.  As macular degeneration begins to set in,  patients may see distorted images, which can later evolve to dark spots in the center of their field of vision. An early diagnosis can guarantee a more successful treatment and avoid the complications caused by AMD.

Connecting civil society and industry

With this in mind, Tino Comunicação, together with the Brazilian Retina and Vitreous Society  and supported by Novartis, developed a campaign to raise awareness on the importance of an early diagnosis and the correct treatment for AMD.

The campaign’s crucial message is simple: When your vision is compromised, you are missing out on special moments and memories. Clear vision ties directly into quality of life, and it is important that shyness, fear, or pride does not prevent seniors from reaching out for help. At the very first sign of vision problems, the elderly must look to their doctors for treatment and diagnosis as soon as the vision loss begins.

The campaign “Veja Para Sempre” (See Forever) just launched on Facebook October 15. Public engagement is the best result of a successful campaign, and “Veja Para Sempre” hopes to garner engagement through visual publicity, social networks, and media attention. And it has already gotten off to a successful start; just three days into the campaign, the page has already received over 1,500 likes.

Fighting this preventable blindness is a matter of social responsibility and public health. If we can prevent it by acting now, why wait?

The post Using Social Media to Fight Vision Loss in Brazil appeared first on GLOBALHealthPR.

Diabetes is a big problem in Brazil. The country has over 13.5 million people with type 2 diabetes and it is believed that half of those people are not aware of their condition. Brazil has the fourth-highest number of diabetics in the world, and this number is expected to increase exponentially.

Photos from the “Change your Values” campaign launch event in São Paulo, 2 September 2013.

With these numbers in mind, Tino developed the “Mude Seus Valores” (Change your Values) campaign for the Brazilian Diabetes Society. The campaign’s goal is to make sure this epidemic is controlled and that people are more aware of how they can prevent and treat diabetes in a more responsible way.

We understand that, today, health campaigns have to be broader, bolder and more present in social media than ever before. Engaging the audience through Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo Answers and other social media websites is essential to make sure patients are well informed to reach physicians.

Tino was responsible for gathering sponsors and developing the entire visual concept of this campaign, destined to capture the attention of the public. The idea is that with a couple of changes in your day to day life you can avoid diabetes, a chronic and serious illness.

The partnership with the Brazilian Diabetes Society will address two key issues. One is that we have to take action to change the future of this disease not only in Brazil, but all around the world. The other is the importance of a social media campaign to raise awareness of those problems and to engage individuals.

Leveraging social media to prevent chronic disease

A statement by the American Heart Association made in December last year, for example, recognized the importance of social media in helping children overcome obesity. It is undeniable that online communities have a bigger presence in our lives than ever before, specially to a new generation. Therefore, making sure the campaign is just as active online as it is in outdoor media is an important step to communicate with children and teenagers, to change unhealthy behaviors from the start.

According to the American Heart Association, creating an intervention for obese children in online communities helped them to find role models to change their habits.

The “Mude Seus Valores” campaign does precisely that. We invite people to take action, changing their lives step by step. We have to change our values after all.

In the coming weeks, please visit www.mudeseusvalores.com.br for more information on the launch of the “Mude Seus Valores” campaign.

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Is there a new game-changer in Brazilian journalism? Laís Cattassini of Tino Comunicação, GLOBALHealthPR’s partner in Brazil discusses.

Protesters in Rio de Janeiro.
Celso Barbosa-Futura Press/Veja

Here in Brazil, there is no question journalism has seen a dramatic change over the years. Although I am not old enough to have experienced what some would call “the good old days,” my generation is now part of a new way of making news. 

One group of young people is trying to do it differently—trying to change the way we produce and consume the news. They call themselves “ninjas.” Not as in warriors or as in spies. Well…maybe. NINJA is an acronym for “Narrativas Independentes, Jornalismo e Ação” (Independent Narratives, Journalism and Action). Unlike big-media journalists, these ninjas are part of the action, sometimes even provoking the facts.

Their notoriety began with the protests that took over Brazil in June. Trying to tell the “true” story of the protesters and what was happening in the streets, young journalists from all over the country went to the protests with mobile cameras and tablets, using 3G internet to report live from centre of the action. What they did, according to them, was give a true and raw view of what was going on, something the regular press hadn’t been doing. But that active participation is a tricky issue. Those who do not agree with the ninjas say they are very fast to demonize political organizations they don’t agree with.

The ninjas themselves admit they have strong political views and are not afraid to report on those. During protests in Rio de Janeiro two “activist-journalists” were arrested and continued broadcasting live on the internet. This led to massive public support. Consequently, the ninjas also got more credibility. They were not just seeing things from the outside like traditional journalists, they were being arrested like many other protesters. They could speak on behalf of the people in the streets.

Their way of making journalism, however, doesn’t have a long shelf life outside of this scenario. Trying to cover the Pope’s visit to Rio de Janeiro, they failed miserably because of what was perceived as superficial coverage amid the commotion. The same happened when they got an exclusive interview with Rio’s mayor, Eduardo Paes. Unprepared, they asked obvious questions and seemed unaware of many government  projects.

Like it or not, the ninja media is defying traditional media. They are inviting young and passionate journalists to report, which is something newspapers, magazines and broadcasters are not doing. And, they are not afraid of telling what their political tendencies are.

It is easy to criticize ninja journalists and ask for unbiased news and objectivity. It is easy to shout at them and ask who is funding their ambitious project. However, the ninjas are showing how passionate journalists can be and how important it is to tell stories about people. How the public itself is hungry for action and participation more than they are hungry for facts. They are showing how the internet can be a bigger ally to the traditional media and how things must change.

Is this the future of journalism? I don’t really know, but it’s a start.

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