Garners second win for 2020 Annual Report
January 13, 2022 (New York) — Work by global health organization Vital Strategies won two categories at the annual PR Daily Content Marketing Awards. “Change. At Your Own Pace,” a mass media campaign conducted in partnership with Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) won Best Social Justice Campaign for its efforts to combat overdose through promoting harm reduction and challenging stigma against people who use drugs. Vital’s 2020 Annual Report also won in the Annual Report category for its innovative storytelling that highlighted the challenges of global health work against a timeline of 2020’s escalating COVID-19 crisis.
“Marshalling public momentum to drive change is a key component of our work to bring a about a world where health is produced and protected for everyone, by everyone,” said José Luis Castro, President and CEO at Vital Strategies. “COVID-19 has underlined the challenge and necessity of communication expertise in public health. We are honored to be recognized by PR Daily for excellence in this area. I commend the team at Vital Strategies and our partners, particularly Michigan Department of Health and Human Services for their partnership and bravery in mounting a campaign that humanizes people who use drugs, and the many global colleagues whose shared work on the frontlines of the unfolding COVID-19 crisis was featured in our annual report.”
Vital Strategies’ work won in two categories:
Best Social Justice Campaign for “Change. At Your Own Pace,” a cooperative advertising initiative with Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) and Luceo Images to address the catastrophic overdose crisis. The campaign features real-life stories from people across Michigan, with inclusive, non-judgmental depictions to promote the benefit of harm reduction services in overdose prevention, including access to naloxone and syringe service programs.
“Not only does, Change. At Your Own Pace offer critical information, hope, and dignity for people who use drugs,” said Gloria Malone, Senior Communications Manager, Overdose Prevention at Vital Strategies “it showcases the importance of having impacted communities speak about the lifesaving solutions available to people who use drugs. Through connecting lived experiences and science we get a campaign that is informative, reliable, and free of stigma and shame. We’re proud that our partnerships and communication work have been recognized by PR Daily.”
Best Annual Report for Vital Strategies’ digital 2020 Annual Report, which used a timeline of the encroaching COVID-19 pandemic to highlight how Vital pivoted to harness its expertise and relationships with governments and partners around the world. The Report addressed COVID-19 and the added burden it places across health systems, while reiterating the urgency of combatting our overdose epidemic and working toward cancer prevention and better food policy.
Vital Strategies also received an honorable mention in the Blog Post category for “Becoming Your True Identity: LGBTQI+ Advocacy in Peru Leads to Civil Registration Reform for work leveraging Civil Registration and Vital Statistics program work to ensure that Peru’s LGBTI community has universal and straightforward access to obtaining accurate identity documents and registering milestone events such as marriages.
Visit PR Daily for a complete list of winners.
About Vital Strategies
Vital Strategies is a global health organization that believes every person should be protected by a strong public health system. We work with governments and civil society in 73 countries to design and implement evidence-based strategies that tackle their most pressing public health problems. Our goal is to see governments adopt promising interventions at scale as rapidly as possible. To find out more, visit vstrategystage.wpengine.com or Twitter @VitalStrat.