The Mobile 4 Reproductive Health (m4RH) toolkit provides information and tips from FHI 360’s work in mobile technology for health over several years and is intended to share lessons learned as well as facilitate replication of this SMS-based family planning and reproductive health information service. The toolkit includes an overview of m4RH, recent demographic and use data gathered through routine system use and from several studies, sample messages, costing data and a description of message development and adaptation process.
Coming of age: communication’s role in powering global health (BBC Media Action Policy Briefing 2016)
Communication has been a consistent current running through many major health developments of recent years. And yet, despite the demonstrated promise of communication as a tool for improving public health, not enough has been done to date to capitalise upon its potential, particularly in the poorest parts of the world. Through a careful review of the evidence, this briefing offers a spirited case for why donors, practitioners and developing country governments need to pay more attention to the role of communication in tackling global health.
The briefing finds that:
- Communication has been central to public health developments from Ebola to polio and from HIV to child survival.
- While health policy officials recognise the importance of health communication, it often remains poorly funded, under-utilised and badly planned in public health programmes.
- Even when it does prioritise communication, public health programming often fails to reflect best practice around the role of social and behaviour change communications (SBCC).
- Progress has been stymied by the complexity of social and behaviour change communication, debates around “what counts” as evidence, and the learning and capacity-strengthening gaps within the health communication field.
- Donors should ensure that their staff are familiar with the health communication evidence base and lessons learned from past programmes, so that they are equipped to plan and evaluate proposals for new communication interventions effectively.
‘The Pulse: A Guide to Health Communication’ – BBC Media Action online training
The Pulse is a free, online course for people interested in using media to inspire people to lead healthier lives. The course is aimed particularly at people who are new to health communication.
Through a series of activities and films, you will learn practical tools about making health communication interventions that work. This will give you the skills to design and produce content that captures large audiences’ attention and encourages them to act. The course includes examples of successful health communication campaigns to inspire you, as well as fact sheets on key health topics such as HIV and AIDS, family planning, nutrition, child health and sanitation.
The course features an exclusive film with academic experts – Dr Val Curtis from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Dr Robert Hornik from the Annenberg School for Communication – talking about the elements and processes that go into making successful health communication interventions.
The Pulse course is funded by the UK’s Department for International Development.
Involving Persons Living with HIV Networks in National HIV Policy Dialogue: A Case Study of MANET+ in Malawi (AIDSFree 2016)
MANET+, the national coordinating body for community-based support groups in Malawi, was founded in 1997 by a group of PLHIV who recognized the need to organize their activities to achieve greater impact on national HIV policies. This case study analyzes the engagement of CSOs in PMTCT policy and planning and clarifies how to increase their involvement and impact. This document describes Malawi’s enabling environment for CSO engagement in PMTCT policy; advocacy, approaches that MANET+ uses to engage with decision makers; strategies for strengthening its policy and advocacy activities; and challenges to creating change. It concludes with recommendations on how MANET+ could build on current successes. These recommendations may also be useful for other CSOs looking to increase the effectiveness of their policy and planning activities.
Click here for full case study.
‘When the evidence is not enough: Hormonal Contraception and HIV’ HC3webinar and presentations now online
Uncertainty remains around hormonal contraception and its link to HIV acquisition. Countries continue to grapple with how they can or should convey this uncertainty to their communities. As a part of this international discussion, the Health Communication Capacity Collaborative (HC3) hosted a webinar focusing on the Strategic Communication Framework for Hormonal Contraceptive Methods and Potential HIV-Related Risks. The webinar introduced the framework, provided discussion around the adaptation process in Malawi and Swaziland, and included the perspective of women living with HIV related to this important issue.
The webinar consisted of five speakers and was moderated by Nithya Mani, Division Chief, Implementation Support, Office of HIV/AIDS, United States Agency for International Development (USAID).