THE POWER OF RADIO

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THE POWER OF RADIO Ayo Palmer, Centre for
Innovation Against Malaria, The Gambia
Angela Dawson, Liverpool School of Tropical
Medicine, UK Jaye Laskahmi
JayaMac Productions Ltd, Northampton, UK Anna
Grey-Johnson Tesito, Banjul, The Gambia YaYa
Kasse, Centre for Innovation Against Malaria, The
Gambia Steve Allen, School of Medicine,
University of Swansea, UK Alieu Sarr, Department
of Central Statistics,Banjul, The Gambia Graham
Mytton, PEGS, Kingsway, Howe, UK Paul Milligan,
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine,
UK.
Radio programmes that combine entertainment
with education may be effective in improving
public knowledge, attitudes and practice
regarding important health issues. The use of
radio for health promotion in malaria was
evaluated in The Gambia through the creation and
national broadcasting of the radio soap opera
Bolonghodala, incorporating public health
messages in the storyline.
Results National survey ? 2000 adults were
interviewed. Survey non-response was less than
0.5. 97 of respondents were radio listeners. In
the week before the survey interview 88 had
listened to the radio, 34 had seen television,
and 50 had read a newspaper. 53 had listened to
the radio the previous day. The radio audience in
The Gambia has a broad demographic profile
representative of the Gambian population but
women listen less often than men (61 of men, and
48 of women, had listened the day before). ?  
22 of respondents had listened to Bolongodala,
(24 of men and 20 of women), representing
approximately 170,000 people. The programmes
weekly Reach was 10 of the adult population of
The Gambia. 68 of those who had listened to the
programme recognized that malaria was the major
theme of the series and 41 remembered specific
themes about malaria prevention. ?  Bolonghodala
was more popular among older listeners, and among
the Mandinka ethnic group. The reach of the
programme was significantly higher among
listeners who had no formal education or had
attended Koranic school only (25) than those who
had attended primary or secondary school (18).
Listeners prefer programmes in their own
language. The reach of the programme could be
increased by broadcasting in other languages.

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Listening to Bolonghodala
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• ? A community-based survey was conducted to
  determine knowledge attitudes and practice in
  relation to malaria.
• ? Key malaria messages were selected
• in consultation with health staff and the
  National Malaria Control Programme.
• ? A malaria training workshop was held for script
  writers. The story is set in a typical but
  fictional Gambian village called Bolonghodala
  meaning by the stream.
• ? Malaria themes were plotted across episodes.
  The characters model and reinforce positive
  practices to prevent, control and manage malaria.

Recording an episode of Bolonghodala
? The 26-episode series was broadcast on national
radio twice-weekly in the most widely spoken
local language (Mandinka), first from July
2003-February 2004 and then repeated in 2004/5
? A 30 minute radio phone-in programme was
broadcast following each episode to assess
audience reaction ? In one rural community,
Julangel, radio listening patterns were
monitored, 7 radio clubs were established to
promote discussion of the programmes and to
assist villagers to translate malaria messages
and recommendations contained in Bolongodala into
action and bed nets were made available at
subsidised cost.

• Julangel
• ? In Julangel the percentage of children lt5yrs
  sleeping under a treated or intact net increased
  from 49 (among 75 women interviewed before the
  radio broadcasts) to 69 (among 81 women
  interviewed after the broadcasts. The KAP surveys
  showed that women were better informed about
  malaria transmission, treatment and prevention
  after the broadcasts, with only 5 of women
  scoring low grades (defined as lt60 appropriate
  responses) on the KAP questionnaires when the
  responses were scored, compared to 40 with low
  grades on the same questionnaire among women
  interviewed before the broadcasts.

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Conclusion In rural areas radio
reaches more people than any other medium. Radio
drama can raise awareness of public health issues
and can be an effective medium for health
promotion. More formal evaluation is needed to
assess its impact on malaria prevention.
The panel on the radio phone-in programme
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? A national cluster sample survey of media use
was conducted during the repeat broadcast to
measure the "Reach" of the radio series
Bolonghodala, and the use that listeners made of
communicated malaria messages. After
stratification by Local Government Area, census
enumeration areas selected with probability
proportional to estimated size, households were
selected using random walk and one respondent
aged 15yrs was selected per household.
Respondents were asked about radio listening in
the previous week.
Julangel village
? In Julangel, a systematic sample of women
caring for children lt5 yrs old was selected for
interview either before or after the series had
been broadcast. Nets for children in their care
were inspected and a structured questionnaire was
used to assess malaria knowledge, health seeking
behaviour for a sick child, household use of
treated nets and prioritisation of children and
pregnant women for the use of treated nets.
After the broadcasts focus group discussions
about the response to the series were conducted
among radio club members.
.