"Organizations strive to persuade the public to change beliefs or behavior through expensive media campaigns. Designers painstakingly craft resonant and culturally sensitive messaging that will motivate people to buy a product or take active steps to improve their health. But once these campaigns le
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ave the controlled environments of focus groups and advertising agencies, the public interprets and distorts the campaigns in ways their designers never intended or dreamed. In 'Best Laid Plans', Terence E. McDonnell argues that these well-designed campaigns are undergoing “cultural entropy”: the process through which the intended meanings and uses of cultural objects fracture into alternative meanings, new practices, failed interactions, and blatant disregard. Using AIDS media campaigns in Accra, Ghana, as its central case study, the book walks readers through best-practice, evidence-based media campaigns that fall totally flat. Female condoms are turned into bracelets, AIDS posters become home decorations, red ribbons fade into pink under the sun—to name a few failures. These damaging cultural misfires are not random. Rather, McDonnell makes the case that these disruptions are patterned, widespread, and inevitable—indicative of a broader process of cultural entropy." (Back cover)
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"This practice briefing sets out what BBC Media Action learned in delivering and supporting health communication in response to the Ebola crisis in West Africa in 2014–15. It has a particular focus on Sierra Leone as this was the hub of the organisation’s response. The paper aims to contribute t
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o a body of knowledge about how to best harness and deploy media and communication in public health emergencies. It also underscores the need for the global community to plan and invest in communication long before any crises take hold, to ensure that communication plays a central role in reducing the impact of future crisis events. The paper sets out the specific communication challenge posed by Ebola and why it was so difficult to get to grips with this in the early months of the outbreak. It then documents when the health communication response became more useful and explores what that tells us about effective media and communication. Finally, it offers recommendations to ensure that media and communication are used to their full potential during other disease outbreaks or humanitarian crises." (BBC Media Action website)
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"The Polio Communication Global Guide is a how-to manual for planning and building effective mass media and interpersonal communication strategies with the ultimate goal of eradicating polio. This document outlines UNICEF’s global approach to polio communication informed by data and on-the-ground
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experience with a focus on reaching the hardest-to-reach populations in the final polio reservoirs of the world. It provides a comprehensive strategic framework and identifies the key steps of planning and executing an effective and adaptive polio communication response from mass media all the way down to interpersonal communication [...] Previous polio communication strategies often utilised risk communication and targeted individual caregivers with facts about polio and polio vaccination. The new polio strategy is specifically designed to address the dynamic perceptions and social norms that deter caregivers in the remaining 1% of the world from vaccinating their children. Our shift to social norm communication is grounded in recent polling research on populations affected by polio in endemic and outbreak contexts, and their responses to polio eradication efforts. Primarily, this research shows the prevalence of unsupportive social norms in high-risk areas." (Introduction)
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"In this study, we assessed the relevance and effectiveness of radio broadcasting as a strategy that facilitates the adoption and use of safer sexual practices among students at a South African university. Based on ethnographic data, the article highlights that the essential and critical contributio
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n of campus radio lies in its ability to create a social space for HIV/AIDS communication. The overall aim of this study was to assess the relationship between exposure to radio broadcasting messages and the adoption of safer sexual practices. Our analysis suggests that campus broadcasting can be instrumental in promoting HIV/AIDS awareness and education." (Abstract)
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"Through an action media methodology, various participatory, grassroots, and traditional media methods, such as role plays, movie screenings, and drawing, were used with eight HIV-positive children to empower them to collectively respond to better treatment adherence. The paper demonstrates how, thr
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ough a process of participatory methodologies, the young children developed a cricital consciousness about their lived experiences and were empowered to actively participate in decision making and their right to treatment." (Abstract)
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"Mass media play an important role in explaining the issue of female genital cutting and can influence discourse among the general public as well as policy makers. Understanding how news media present female genital cutting has strong implications for the global status of women. This study, a quanti
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tative content analysis, analyzed how 15 years of newspaper coverage surrounding the launch of the Millennium Development Goals framed female genital cutting in four countries with varying prevalence levels of female genital cutting: the United States, Ghana, The Gambia, and Kenya. The study found female genital cutting is consistently portrayed as a problematic and thematic topic, largely tied to cultural rituals. However, coverage is minimal and inconsistent over time, and does not appear to be impacted by the increase in international initiatives aimed at combatting the practice." (Abstract)
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"This Uganda national communication strategy for malaria prevention and control has been developed to facilitate the implementation of the Uganda Malaria Reduction Strategy (UMRS) 2014-2020. The strategy will offer a framework where every stakeholder shall take recommended actions to fund, prevent,
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diagnose, treat, control, and eventually eliminate malaria." (Acknowledments, page 4)
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"This toolkit aims to help global mental health researchers communicate their findings to their stakeholders. The principles in this toolkit can be applied to all stakeholders, including policy-makers, and to key messages about your project’s implementation and policy influence activities. This to
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olkit will help you to know: 1. How to package your key messages to make them remembered and acted upon by your stakeholders; 2. How to plan your communications methods and activities to achieve your project and policy objectives; 3. How to produce communications products, including impact statements, blogs, infographics and policy briefs, to communicate your key messages to your stakeholders." (Overview)
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"[...] los textos de las ocho ponencias ofrecen una introducción a la epidemiología con abundantes explicaciones y referencias de utilidad para los informadores en su trabajo cotidiano. El Cuaderno recoge ta mbién la crónica del debate que tuvo lugar entre periodistas y epidemiólogos, una bibli
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ografía básica y una lista de 44 mensajes clave sobre epidemiología para periodistas y comunicadores. Esta lista de “píldoras informativas” condensa los principales mensajes de los ponentes y contiene algunas pautas que pueden ayudar a mejorar las habilidades de los periodistas y comunicadores cuando se enfrentan a un estudio epidemiológico." (Presentación, página vii-viii)
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"For the last couple of years, there were more reporting on disability in the media but most of them only reporting and portraying the ‘uniqueness’ of disability. In the election news reporting, media only portray the Persons with Disabilities on the voting process but the news still did not hav
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e the clear message and even used incorrect terminologies. Learning for these experiences, General Election Network for Disability Access (AGENDA) which is the consortium of Jaringan Pendidikan Pemilih untuk Rakyat (JPPR/ People’s Voter Education Network), Persatuan Penyandang Disabilitas Indonesia (PPDI/Indonesian Association of Persons with Disabilities) and International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), took an initiative to develop the Media Guidelines for Reporting on Accessible Elections. This guideline explains about the terminology on disability and accessible election, how to interact with Persons with Disabilities, and how to make the news article on the political rights of Persons with Disabilities. The guidelines also provides the examples of good reporting and the contact information of the Disabled People’s Organizations (DPOs) in Indonesia. We hope the guidelines will be useful for the journalist to report on the Persons with Disabilities, especially to report on the accessible election. By having good and massive reporting on accessible election, we hope the public have more knowledge about the political rights of Persons with Disabilities. As a result of this efforts, the public awareness is increased and together we can advocate the political rights of Person with Disabilities in elections." (Foreword)
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"For journalists, coverage of the Ebola epidemic offers vital lessons that could help the media industry deliver a more public-interest oriented service geared towards combating the spread the disease. It is these lessons that have helped shape the following guidelines. The guidelines have been glea
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ned and compiled from the numerous articles, discussion forums, guidelines for health personnel, interventions by governments and nongovernmental organisations, advisories for media associations in the affected countries, and anecdotes by journalists in the front lines of the epidemic. In November 2014, the African Media Initiative convened a Consultative Forum of Media Strategies in Nairobi, Kenya. The ensuing discussions helped illuminate other critical concerns and gaps associated with coverage of infectious diseases. These guidelines attempt as well to address those gaps. They are by no means intended as the last word on how best to cover outbreaks of infectious diseases but should be seen as the starting point of an effort to create greater awareness in the realm of journalism to help improve its service to the public." (Page 5)
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"Entertainment-education for Health Behaviour Change: Issues and Perspectives in Africa is a collection of essays from some of the leading scholars in entertainment-education, including writers from South Africa, Nigeria, and the United States. Chapters cover a wide range of application and strategi
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es for entertainment-education, from mass media campaigns to participatory communication for behaviour change in health interventions including polio eradication and HIV/AIDS. Through reviews of past programmes and discussions of areas of potential research, these scholars highlight an emerging approach that is set to change health education and behaviour change strategies around the world." (Publisher description)
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"Our media advisory service was set up to provide advice and support on mental health storylines and documentaries. We inputted into 75 soap opera storylines, as well as mental health seasons for BBC 3 and Channel 4. We also developed an online resource for media professionals, and supported media o
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rganisations, including the Sunday Mirror, Channel 4 and Top Santé, to make a pledge to tackle mental health stigma and discrimination. We organised 12 meet the media events, mostly aimed at professionals working in specific sectors, including sports journalism, documentaries, and entertainment and reality TV. Our Get the Picture campaign, launched at an event for picture editors, encouraged media agencies to stop using stigmatising images to illustrate stories about mental health. What we achieved: Input into 75 soap opera and drama storylines; 12 events attended by 594 media professionals; 77% used their learning within two months of the event; 54,450 visits to our media online resource; nine media organisations signed a Time to Change pledge." (Page 2)
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"Despite the many HIV/AIDS communication initiatives, combined with support and infrastructural support in South Africa, risky behaviour associated with the spread of the epidemic is increasing amongst many groups. This calls for a re-evaluation of endeavours aimed at curbing the spread of the epide
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mic. This article is only concerned with the communicational aspects of the epidemic, but does not negate the interaction of these with other measures taken to address the epidemic. As is the case with most health communication initiatives, HIV/AIDS communication initiatives have evolved to favour the participatory approach above one-directional transmission of information to the public. The participatory approach rests on the assumption that an HIV/AIDS communication initiative stands the best chance of resulting in behaviour change if members of the target community participate in the communication initiative. The assumption is that as many people as possible should be involved in the maximum number of phases of the communicative initiative (such as initial research, planning, implementation and evaluation of the project). Some research has recently started to explore new forms of community participation, including inviting community participation through, for example, internet-based platforms such as social media, and mobile phone platforms such as WhatsApp and BBM. However, the reality broadcast genre – more specifically, talk radio – has been neglected, as only a few research investigations focused on talk radio and most of these are not exclusively about HIV/AIDScommunication but focus on other health topics. From a participatory communication perspective, two sets of critique against the existing HIV/AIDS communication projects hold water: firstly, they do not make the maximum use of participatory communication principles and, secondly, they are externally initiated projects and emanate from outside the target community. To address both of these concerns, this article explores a wider range of participatory principles and the potential workings of these in an internally initiated communication initiative aimed at addressing the epidemic. More specifically, this article investigates ways in which radio listeners experience the reality broadcast genre – the talk radio show, Positive Talk – as participatory communication. Positive Talk is not an externally initiated project, as it is not part of a pre-planned, goal-oriented project that is owned and controlled outside the target community. In contrast, it has been initiated by Criselda Kananda, an individual not linked to any of the existing initiatives outside the community. She started the show to earn a living. She became a well-known person, is fairly knowledgeable in the field and was granted this opportunity as she is HIV-positive. In order to investigate how radio listeners use the show to engage in HIV/AIDS communication, 20 in-depth interviews were held with avid listeners of the show. The respondents indicated that they appreciate ordinary people phoning in. When expressing their opinions about the show, they found Kananda’s life story credible, believed her public and private life to be congruent, valued Kananda’s personality and respectful manner and could identify with the views expressed. In the article, it is argued that these ideas are largely in line with the principles of participatory communication tied to democracy, the participatory turn, the ordinary, validation of identity and respectful dialogue. Although the findings of this qualitative study cannot be generalised to the whole listening population of the show, they indicate that it is worth investigating the value of communication initiatives that emerge spontaneously from communities (instead of those strategically engineered from outside the general population) as a future direction of HIV/AIDS communication in the country." (Abstract)
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"This study is a descriptive literature review. The purpose of this literature review is to describe factors which associate behavior and behavior change in the communities and to describe communication and communication methods which have been used in behavior change communication programs in devel
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oping countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. The objective of the study is to provide information about health behavior communication in community and used methods which can be utilized in behavior change campaign in developing countries.
The study followed the process of descriptive literature review. After the identification of the research question, data were collected from the scientific databases, Academic Search Premier and ProQuest, and manually from the other sources between February and August 2015. 39 researches were accepted to this review, most of them were published in 2009 or after and conducted by the quantitative method. Data were analyzed by the descriptive synthesis. The synthesis produced seven main themes which contained factors related behavior and behavior change and communication.
Communal and personal issues, culture, education and knowledge, economy and access to goods are related to behavior and behavior change as well as way of communication. The above mentioned issues, both individual and community are interwoven to each other and therefore behavior change need to be seen in wider context. Community’s influence on behavior is stronger in comparison with the individual’s own capability to behavior change and therefore the involvement of the community from the beginning is a key issue for the success of behavior change campaigns. Various media channels can be used to deliver the message of behavior change and combination of many communication methods such as mass media and personal communication predicts better outcome." (Abstract)
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"1. Radio, particularly BBC Somali, is an effective medium for reaching people in remote areas of Somalia who are typically hard to reach, including the poorest [...] 2. Drama has been shown to have a particularly powerful role in encouraging audiences to absorb new and relevant information. Tragic
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stories illustrating the potentially fatal results of not adhering to recommended health practices were most recalled by listeners and most associated with improved health practices. The tragic storylines led to an emotional response among the audience, and this has been linked with shifts in knowledge, attitudes and behaviour in the survey. 3. Sufficient time has to be allowed in media interventions to establish a wide audience base and contribute to change in deeply rooted practices and beliefs. In Somalia, preliminary signs that people were broadly aware of and learning from the programme appeared only after more than 30 episodes were aired." (Conclusions)
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