Erkab Radio Program and Discussion Guides

This weekly radio program encourages listeners to adopt healthy behaviors related to different health areas including RMNCH, PMTCT, malaria, nutrition, and WaSH. The program combines drama using the lifecycle approach and real-life stories to integrate the different health areas. For greater impact, the radio program listener groups can be established and facilitate dialogue and reflection among members around issues raised in each episode of the program.

The listeners’ group discussion guide for facilitators provides a clear step-by-step guidance on how to establish listener groups and how to facilitate meaningful discussions using each episode of the radio program. The guides are prepared in Amharic, Afaan Oromo, Tigrigna, Wolaitigna, Sidamigna languages.

The radio program episodes can be made available upon request.

Source: Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs

Date of Publication: April 13, 2020

Earthquake Emergency Special Hello Bhanchhin Aama Radio Program

Suaahara was a five year (2011-2016) project funded by USAID aimed to improve the nutritional status of women and children in 41 districts of Nepal. Suaahara developed and implemented the integrated Bhanchhin Aama (“Mother knows best”) cohesive platform which involved multiple sectors (Nutrition, Agriculture, WASH, Health Service Promotion, Family Planning), linked Suaahara partners, government and others, and had multiple messages for every target audience (pregnant women, husbands, newly married women, mothers-in-law, etc.).

Before the Nepal earthquake in 2015, community members had been in the habit of calling Bhanchhin Aama radio with their questions; nationally there were about 2,500 calls per week. Within two weeks of the earthquake, a 24 episode Bhanchhin Aama Special program short show was on the air twice in a week for 15 minutes each. Hosted by Aama (mother character), the show answered the community’s questions. This Bhanchhin Aama platform was used to disseminate the messages from the FM stations of earthquake-affected Suaahara districts.

The questions were prioritized and answered by the experts to be aired on the radio stations, and were also sent through email to program staff to share with community members who might not be able to hear radio broadcasts.

The episodes covered the following topics:

  1. Importance of drinking clean water during calamity (methods of preparation)
  2. Reproductive health
  3. Psychological counselling
  4. Hygienic and safe feeding
  5. Menstruation hygiene
  6. Toilet, waste and feces management
  7. Typhoid and Jaundice
  8. Family Planning (reproductive health)
  9. How to keep children safe from various epidemics and taking care of a suffering child
  10. Psychological fear
  11. Caring for newborns and mothers
  12. Child Health
  13. How to prevent and treat skin diseases?
  14. How to prevent diseases like typhoid, dysentery and diarrhoea which can be transmitted through water, especially during the monsoon
  15. Breastfeeding
  16. Post-earthquake Health

Source: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/ Center for Communication Programs

Date of Publication: March 25, 2019

Malaria-themed TV Spots

These are 60-second TV commercials developed in line with the National Malaria Elimination Programme’s slogan – “For a Malaria‐Free Nigeria”. It covers the following thematic areas: ANC, LLINs, Malaria Risk Perception and Testing Before Treatment.

The videos were shown in Akwa Ibom, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Ebonyi, Bauchi, Sokoto, Benue, Oyo, Kano & Cross River states in Pidgin, English and Hausa languages. These videos were aired about 12, 993 times. between 2015 and 2017.

Source: Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs

Date of Publication: March 25, 2019

Moyo ndi Mpamba Radio Serial Drama Episodes

This radio drama, part of the Moyo ndi Mpamba campaign in Malawi, was designed to inspire behavior change on priority health issues among adolescent and adult Malawians through interactive radio programming. The drama unfolded over 52 episodes, aired during 12-month period from July 2014 to June 2015. Each episode included questions for audience members, who were encouraged to respond via SMS or on Facebook.

The drama had three main plotlines:

  • A young married couple, Richi and Nasilina, struggle as Richi maintains his relationship with his old girlfriend Esmie
  • Ndaziona, a 16-year-old girl, has a terrible secret that she is hiding from her mother and two brothers
  • Mrs. Nabetha Gama, a very religious woman married to a very traditional man who strongly believes in traditional healers and superstitions

This page offers a link to all of the episodes.

Read about the radio serial drama design document here.

Source: SSDI-Communication

Date of Publication: March 25, 2019