AudiencScapes

At a recent MDG event, AudienceScapes Analyst David Montez is reminded that effective social and behavioral change communication is a key determinant for reaching many of the MDGs. 

by David Montez, AudienceScapes Research Analyst

On Monday (September 20th) I attended a side event for this week’s Millennium Development Goals Summit entitled “Achieving MDG 4: The power of Vaccines and Partnership to Tackle the Major Child Killers“. While the event overall focused upon the role of vaccines in helping countries move closer to achieving MDG 4,  I couldn't help but be reminded about how important a role communication plays in ensuring the success of immunization campaigns. The event hosted by UNICEF, the Republic of Kenya and the GAVI Alliance was a discussion between the health ministers of various donor and developing countries and heads of UN agencies. Key topics were the success of the GAVI Alliance in successfully supporting numerous immunization programs and the importance of donor and recipient nations to push campaign introducing new vaccines that fight diarrhea and pneumonia.

Each speaker emphasized the role of immunization as an effective and efficient means of working towards MDG 4, reducing by two thirds the under-five mortality rate. Another key point of emphasis during the event was the introduction of new vaccines for diarrhea and pneumonia, now the two biggest killers of children under five. In June of this year the UK publication The Lancet published a new study by Water Aid, an international NGO, reporting that diarrhea is now the biggest killer of under-fives in Africa followed by pneumonia.

As the report reads, ‘Every day on the continent (Africa) 2,000 children die from diarrhea – deaths that are preventable through access to sanitation, hygiene education and clean water. Simply using a safe toilet can reduce the incidence of diarrhea by 40%, while a toilet together with safe water and hygiene can reduce the disease by 90 percent’.

With this latest report in mind, during the event I couldn’t help but think how important effective communication is to the success of immunization campaigns and for fulfilling many of the MDG indicators. The effectiveness of the numerous immunizations campaigns that the GAVI Alliance has supported would not have been as successful without equally successful social and behavioral change communication (SBCC). While there are now vaccines that have proven to be affect in combating diarrhea and pneumonia these products are not available everywhere. This puts a greater emphasis upon the need to change hygiene practices, as the report states above, highlighting another need for effective SBCC.

SBCC informs and sensitizes target groups to upcoming immunization drives. This is particularly important in rural areas and in countries that lack robust health systems where it takes considerable effort just to travel to clinics to receive healthcare. This is also important not just for immunization campaigns but also behavioral change projects, such as hygiene education.

This is true also for projects that work towards the fulfillment of other MDG goals, like MDG 6 which combats HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases (Target 6A. Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS). Often these indicators require efforts in behavioral change such as the need to change individual’s behavior to reduce HIV risks like the use of contraception. National surveys implemented by the AudienceScapes project explores how health information flows through societies and what are the key mediums and outlets that may be used to target key at risk populations. In a previous research brief AudienceScapes analyst Hannah Bowen examined how in Kenya and Ghana HIV/AIDS information campaigns seem to be reaching their target audiences.

Another aspect of how communication plays a role in the fulfillment of the MDGs is how the citizens of a country perceive their respective country’s progress in the MDGs. AudienceScapes research found in Zambia that public opinions on the level of progress made towards meeting the MDGs do not always square with a country's actual MDG status.

When Zambians were asked about their country's degree of progress on meeting six key MDG criteria (which are supposed to be met by 2015), more than two‐thirds of Zambian respondents perceived either some or a lot of progress in maternal healthcare and family planning (other possible responses were “not a lot of progress” and “no progress at all”). But national statistics indicate that there is still a great deal that needs to be done in these areas, particularly if Zambia is to reach its MDG goals of reducing its maternal mortality rate by three‐quarters and granting universal access to contraception. For more about AudienceScapes’ findings see our research brief on the topic here.

Too often it is overlooked that the success or failure of ground level operations like SBCC campaigns are key determinants of whether a country fulfills its Millennium Development Goals. Bolstering health infrastructure and integrating disparate health systems are extremely important in providing those less privileged with healthcare, but it is also critical that successful efforts be made in health education and awareness so that the less privileged will traverse that last mile that is so often needed.

The above table is an example of how the AudienceScapes survey data can be used to identify gaps in health information on the provincial level. The highlighted table cells indicate provinces with information access rates that are below the national average. For more research on health communication flows see our reports on Kenya and Ghana. In addition, you can access the data yourself with our Online Data Analysis Tool. For access to and instructions on how to use the tool see here.  

Development levels of provinces were sourced from the Human Development Report- "2007 Zambia Human Development Report: Enhancing household capacity to respond to HIV and AIDS". United Nations Development Programme. Available here: http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/nationalreports/africa/zambia/name,3317,en.html