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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE New Bangladesh Soap Opera Promotes Good Health While Entertaining MillionsEvery Friday at 8 o'clock, following the Bangla news, millions of Bangladeshis sit glued to their television sets watching the soap opera Shabuj Chhaya. Interwoven with the drama and emotion of village life are health messages about immunization for children, vitamin A, diarrhea, family planning for newlyweds, adolescent sexuality, and AIDS. As each 30-minute episode ends, an announcer says: “Now it's time for the audience quiz.” He gives the correct answers for last week's quiz and then asks three new questions about the current episode, telling the audience they have seven days to mail in the correct answers to be entered in a drawing. The first five correct answers to be drawn win Tk. 500 (U.S. $10), and the next 20 correct entries win attractive calendars. Back at the ad agency in charge of production management, the staff gear up for another huge influx of mail. After three episodes, 22 large gunnysacks of letters, each containing some 9,000 letters, are lined up in the office (see photo). 
The 13-part TV series, which premiered on January 21, is a production of the Bangladesh Center for Communication Programs (BCCP). The Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs provided technical assistance and story line development. At the initiative of the Bangladesh Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the new TV serial follows the extremely successful TV drama, Shabuj Shathi, which was broadcast in 1998. It featured Bokul, a dedicated and charming Bangladeshi health worker who helps to improve the health of people in her village. The central character of the new drama, Shabuj Chhaya, is a middle-aged but energetic and dedicated Doctor Jalal, who tries to persuade people to take responsibility for their health. In one scene Doctor Jalal asks the Imam to mention the vaccination of children after the sermon. The Imam responds: “You will have to explain to me exactly what I have to say. And I definitely will say it. It is my duty.” But when the Imam tells his congregation to vaccinate their children, Kuddus, a former village union parishad member, shouts that the mosque is a place for religious affairs. “You are talking about Green Umbrella clinics. Those health care centers sell birth control materials,” Kuddus shouts. Amid the general commotion that follows, the headmaster of the local school points out that the Prophet Muhammad used to hold discussions in the mosque to benefit the people. Everybody agreed and Kuddus had to keep quiet. Other characters include paramedic Nasima, who has vowed to help people with their problems; Farooque, a young man who tries to do at least one good deed each day; and a colorful beggar on a horse who dispenses advice along the doctor's recommendations to all he meets. The drama is written and directed by the popular playwright Humayun Ahmed and stars well-known Bangladeshi actors and actresses. Based on results of the previous Shabuj Shathi, project staff hope that some 70% of TV viewers will watch the 13-episode drama—around 35 million people. The Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs (JHU/CCP) is a pioneer in the field of strategic, research-based communication for behavior change and health promotion that has helped transform the theory and practice of public health. JHU/CCP has been a leader in the development of projects based on systematic needs assessment and clear strategies for positioning and presenting the benefits of healthy behavior to appropriate audiences. With representatives in more than 30 countries, JHU/CCP has developed and managed over 300 country-based projects and contracts in 50 countries, involving more than 200 local organizations and subcontractors. For more information about the project, please contact Edson Whitney, Chief, Asia Division, Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, 111 Market Place, Suite 310, Baltimore, Maryland 21202. Tel: 301 659-6300. Fax: 410 659-6266; E-mail: Ewhitney@jhuccp.org, Anne Palmer, Sr. Program Officer (apalmer@jhuccp.org), or Mohammad Shahjahan, Director & CEO BCCP (bccp@citechco.net). |
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