(Baghdad Province as a Model)Role of the Iraqi Ministry of Heallth (MOH) Media Campaigns in Reinforcing Health Awarness Among the Public from the Point of View of the Workforce in the Health Sector

The objective of this study is to understand the impact of media campaigns in spreading health awareness among the public from the viewpoint of th Iraqi Ministry of Health (MOH ), from which a number of other aims branch out, which include recognizing the concept of media campaigns along with their core contents and employed tools and methods; revealing prominent topics dealt with by the Iraqi (MOH) media campaigns; to realize how effective media campaigns are in heightening health awareness from the point of view of Health care workers; to indicate the degree of satisfaction among health care workers towards achieving health awarenes and finally to recognize the approved methods in such campaigns carried out by the (MOH) in the course of achieving health awareness.

The importance of this study lies in the benefits of its results and to use them as a guide to improve and develop health media campaigns through a communication network system in the form of social media and in a way that would contribute to improvement of performance in the health sector through the task of conveying information in a simplified way and open to the public to use freely without much trouble for patients to obtain. Furthermore, this study comes under the category of Descriptive Studies in the context of a Field Research Method coupled with the use of Questionnaires, where the population subjected to this study is located in the capital city of Baghdad that reached o total of (40.000), out of which a sample of (600) individuals was randomly selected.

 (MOH) media campaigns deal with the reasons that lead to occurrence of diseases and they highlight scientific facts about infectious diseases and contagions in media awareness programs with the objective of constructing a first line preventative defense barrier against contagious diseases, and given the that such campaigns have a direct impact on the vulnerable public, it clearly follows that such campaigns consider dealing with suddenly emerging diseases in this country. This study proved the efficient role of media campaigns in heightening awareness among the public regarding the dangers of becoming infected with (COVID-19) in the midst of the corona virus pandemic. The pioneering role of such campaigns is represented by convincing families and relatives of the necessity of vaccinating their children against diseases such as polio, which prevails among that vulnerable age group. Needless to say that television and social media were instrumental to media campaigns given their well known effect on society as a whole.

Important recommendations of this study included encouraging those concerned to employ mobile teams since they play an effective role in society especially at public gatherings in settings such as malls and shopping centers; moreover, this study referred to the importance of including certain topics in the (MOH) media campaigns such as instilling a culture of personal hygiene.

Furthermore, this study emphasized the importance of designing media campaign programs in partnership with effective media tools within society residing in the Baghdad area in a way that would encourage individuals to seek vaccination against the Corona virus.