Audio innovation and songs to spur change in global health: evidence from a national crowdsourcing open call for youth social innovation in Malaysia

Abstract

IntroductionAudio innovations remain an important medium to drive innovation in health, especially in low-resource settings. This article explores the role of audio innovation to spur change in the context of a crowdsourcing open call for youth (18–30 years old) in Malaysia.MethodsA crowdsourcing open call for youth in Malaysia was organised from March to June 2021 using standards from the WHO-TDR. The open call was called ‘Imagine the World Anew’ and submission categories included youth-led messaging, youth social innovation and youth strategic planning. We analyse open call submissions and provide a more detailed analysis of an audio submission.ResultsA total 43 entries were submitted to the open call and 6 were selected for grand prizes. One of the two grand prizes in the youth messaging category was a song developed by a youth team. The song was called ‘Rise Up’ and was developed by Malaysian youth to demonstrate how youth have been critical agents for change during the COVID-19 pandemic. The audio format allowed the youth to directly speak to other Malaysian youth, leverage existing audio channels and democratise messaging during COVID-19. Building on the experience from this crowdsourcing open call, we also describe key considerations for open calls to incorporate audio innovations in low-resource settings.ConclusionAudio innovations like songs can mobilise youth and other members of the public and amplify their voices. Audio messages may enhance dissemination of health messages in diverse low-income and middle-income country settings.

Crowdsourcing to support training for public health: A scoping review

“…Thirteen studies (17.6%) used crowdsourcing to promote mentorship ( Table 4 ) [ 1 , 8 , 9 , 13 , 54 – 62 ]. Five of these studies were conducted in high income countries.…”

“…Crowdsourcing to promote mentorship. Thirteen studies (17.6%) used crowdsourcing to promote mentorship (Table 4) [1,8,9,13,[54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62]. Five of these studies were conducted in high income countries.…”

“…Eight studies used hackathons, three used open calls, and two used peer groups as their crowdsourcing method. All eight studies that organized hackathons provided mentors for their participants [8,9,54,55,58,[60][61][62]. The mentors had varying roles, which included providing expert knowledge, training participants in public speaking and presentation skills, reviewing ideas and prototypes, offering encouragement and support, and connecting participants to their networks.…”

“…Crowdsourcing approaches are one way to enhance training. Crowdsourcing has been previously used to identify LMIC researchers for training opportunities and engagement in health research as part of the WHO/TDR global programme [ 7 , 8 ]. Crowdsourcing approaches have also been used in various other learning contexts, including developing learning materials [ 9 ], identifying open-access training resources [ 10 ], and identifying ways to enhance public health education and mentorship [ 1 , 11 , 12 ].…”

Social innovation in health: concepts and practice

“…The study protocol from Li et al examines the effectiveness of a community-engaged social innovation to increase uptake of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis among sexual minorities in China 31. Crowdsourcing open calls from Malaysia,32 the Philippines,33 Nigeria,34 Ghana35 and the Americas28 identified social innovations using SIHI regional networks. Crowdsourcing has a group of people solve all or part of a problem, then implements or shares solutions with the public 36.…”