People: Communication: Positive Sustainable Change

The Arguments and the Data:

1. People increasing their access to communication channels promotes positive change.

“Exposure to mass media has considerable influence on reproductive behaviour even without radical economic and social changes”


Namibia: 61% of married women regularly exposed to radio, TV and print media are currently using contraception; compared with 25% exposed to two of those media, 20% exposed to one of the media and 12% exposed to no media.

Kenya: 53% of rural, married women regularly exposed to radio, TV and print media are currently using contraception; compared with 42% exposed to two of those media, 33% exposed to one of the media and 22% exposed to no media.

N.B. Research controls for other factors which may explain these differences such as educational status, age and income levels [from DHS Analytical Reports Research Study - by Westoff et al]

2. Popular, research based communication interventions have impact.

Soul City is a multi-media, research based, health and development communication initiative in South Africa. 61% of the population of South Africa accessed at least one element of this programme. 95% of that group learned something from Soul City. From that 95%, 78% used that information in relation to thier lives - eg people accessing Soul City are twice as likely to use a condom as people who did not access [28% to 14%]

3. Increased interpersonal, family and community communication leads to positive change.

Jiggasha is a community discussion and information based reproductive health programme in Bangladesh. Over 50% of the participants said that they discussed both the community meetings which are a central part of this programme and family planning issues with their husbands and other women.

From all participants in the programme: 30% adopted a new contraceptive method; 22 per cent continued to sue their current method; and 17 per cent visited a family planning clinic.[from Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programmes Study]

4. Communication is itself a major development concern. This is the information age.

Information is as crucial to the development of people's and communities in the developing world as it is to business profitability in the private sector. However:

• 80% of the world's population has no access to a telephone




• Radio still only covers 75% of Africa's population




• There are 51.6 million Internet users in the USA [predicted to double by 2001]




• 700,000 Internet people in Africa use basic Internet services
  
  [from PANOS briefing paper: the Internet and Poverty - Real Hope or Real Hype]

5. Partnerships with mainstream communication organisations help achieve social and behavioural objectives.

• The commencement of Radio Barkeol in Mauritania and it's emphasis on child health, led to five-fold increase in immunisation, substantial reduction in guinea worm incidence and 80% better understanding in how to prevent guinea worm. [from Save the Children Study]




• The entertainment and news focus on alcohol-impaired driving in USA led to an 8% increase in designated drivers from 1989 to 1991 [29 to 37%] and 9% increase for young adults [43 to 52%] [from Harvard Health Communication Study]