Community theatre can be an effective way to support positive changes in health knowledge and behaviour as well as related social norms. This is a guide for programme managers and community theatre groups on how and why to integrate maternal, infant, and young child nutrition content into existing community theater activities. It provides recommendations for strengthening theater performances based on PATH’s successful experience implementing Magnet Theater for a variety of public health topics throughout Africa and Asia, and the Infant & Young Child Nutrition (IYCN) Project’s experience using theater to promote optimal infant and young child feeding practices in Zambia.
The use of new ICTs to support HIV and sexual health, targeting youth and adolescents – case studies and report (C4D Network 2015)
This report, commissioned by UNICEF, aims to highlight the use, potential and impact of ICTs in sexual and reproductive health and HIV interventions targeting adolescents and young people. It highlights the lessons learnt from 11 case studies from across Africa, and illustrates the role of innovation in the use of ICT for HIV prevention. The report serves as a useful learning guide for future design and implementation of future programming on HIV and sexual health among adolescents.
Click here for the full report: C4D Network – REPORT & CASE STUDIES on ICT for HIV Prevention 28.11.15
Exploring the role of communication in community health in Sierra Leone (BBC Media Action report 2016)
BBC Media Action has worked in Sierra Leone since 2007, using multiple platforms including radio, mobile, social media and interpersonal communication to address three key themes: governance and rights, health, and resilience and humanitarian response.
Community access to health information is particularly valuable in countries with low numbers of health professionals, such as Sierra Leone. To understand more about the role media and communication can play in Sierra Leone, and the ways it can support efforts to rebuild the health system, BBC Media Action carried out a programme of research in Sierra Leone in late 2015.
Using data from a national survey and from a qualitative study in four communities, this report looks at the potential role that communication could play in community health. The report shows there is strong interest from Sierra Leoneans in receiving more health information, but that many people tend to be passive recipients of this information rather than actively seeking it out – unless they face an emergency or particular health crisis. The implications for mass communication are discussed.
Click here for full report.
Factors Impacting the Effectiveness of Community Health Worker Behavior Change: A Literature Review (Health Communication Capacity Collaborative 2015)
Social and behavior change communication (SBCC), which uses communication to positively influence the social dimensions of health and well-being, is an important strategy for improving health services at the provider level. As community health workers (CHWs) play an increasingly important role in providing health services, there is also an increasing focus on to how to use SBCC strategies to build CHWs’ capacity to offer quality services to the community members they serve. A key step in designing and implementing effective SBCC programs for CHWs is understanding the barriers and facilitators that effect CHWs in providing these services.
Talks and plenary session videos now online from first International Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) Summit 2016
The first International SBCC Summit took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in February 2016 and was designed to bring together the global community of social and behavior change communication (SBCC) organizations, professionals and researchers to advance the practice of SBCC in health.
17 of the talks and keynote speeches from the Summit have now been uploaded by the Health Communication Capacity Collaborative and can be viewed online via You Tube.