The Better Health Campaign

Project dates: October 1998 - present

Themes: Youth and HIV/AIDS, Child Health/IMCI, Quality of Care, Community Mobilization, Family Planning and Maternal Health, Malaria

• Overview
• Objectives
• Activities
• Outputs
• Impact
• Unique Features
• Future Plans
• Partners

Overview

ZIHPCOMM created he Better Health Campaign as a way to bring health closer to the people. It also addresses the misunderstandings and misinformation surrounding the health reforms process, in which the Ministry of Health attempted to reform the structure and management of the health care sector, including engaging people in bettering their own health. Overall, the population had a negative view of the initial process. The Better Health campaign was launched as a multi-media campaign featuring a different health topic each month. One topic per week is covered in print and on TV and radio in an attempt to create better health awareness among Zambians.

Objectives

• Encourage communities to take an active role in improving individual and collective health
• Increase awareness among individuals that they are responsible for their own health behavior

Activities

• Health Reforms and Eye Health covered as health topics in the media, with Eye Health done specifically as a means to prevent eye damage during the eclipse in June
• Journalist competition on the topic of Safe Motherhood intended to enhance the ability of journalists to this health topic (part of an ongoing competition on coverage of selected health topics)

Outputs

• Twelve programmes produced
• One Safe Motherhood journalist competition conducted

Impact

• The project was effective in reaching the target population. Data from the Society for Family Health (SFH) Zambia Urban and Peri-Urban Media Survey 1999 indicates that 51% of the respondents had been exposed to the Better Health Campaign on TV and 37% on radio. 13% of Zambians read the newspaper column "To Your Health," which is half of the total readership for the newspaper.
• 23 newspaper, 10 radio (Zambian language), 5 radio (English), and 3 TV (Newshour - ZNBC) entries were received for the journalist competition.
  

Unique Features

The journalist competition was designed to stimulate Zambian journalists' interest in writing about safe motherhood. The journalists received a stipend to take them out into different districts in Zambia in search of stories.

Future Plans

• Health Reforms Part 3: "Promoting Health Providers" will be an upcoming topic in the Better Health Campaign TV, radio and newspaper spots.
• Leprosy will be covered in the Better Health Campaign spots, in response to a special request from CBOH.
• The next journalist competition will cover child health.

Partners

• Central Board of Health (CBOH)
• Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA)
• ZNBC
• Times of Zambia

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