Facebook Powered Measurement and Evaluation for Iron Folic Acid Health Intervention in India

Bernard, Drew; McCullough, Chris; Francis, Sarah L.; Holton, Avery E.; Diamond‐Smith, Nadia

doi:10.12688/gatesopenres.13047.2

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…For example, to promote iron-folic acid supplements, Upswell and our partners chose an audience of women who were in the age group of 15-49 and lived in the Indian states of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. We were able to determine that 9.4 million women on Facebook met these inclusion criteria (Bernard, McCullough, Francis, Holton, & Diamond-Smith, 2019). Once we identified our audience, we used Facebook to better understand what content would resonate with them.…”

Section: The Power Of Sharingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, we can use Facebook as a tool to recruit participants for surveys that we launch outside of the Facebook platform (Bernard et al, 2019). As COVID-19 spread globally, we were connected with the producers of Shuga, an entertainment-education show airing in Nigeria and South Africa, who wanted to learn more about their audience and what the audience knew already about COVID-19.…”

Section: The Power Of Sharingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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When Your Audience Is Your Channel: Facebook for Behavior Change

Bernard

Francis

2021

Entertainment-Education Behind the Scenes

Self Cite

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Section: The Power Of Sharingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Power Of Sharingmentioning

confidence: 99%

When Your Audience Is Your Channel: Facebook for Behavior Change

Bernard

Francis

2021

Entertainment-Education Behind the Scenes

Self Cite

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“…At the same time, the reach and influence of social media could potentially be harnessed in a positive way; to build vaccine knowledge and confidence, promote demand, and ultimately increase vaccine uptake [ 8 , 9 ]. Strategic campaign marketing tools available online such as audience insights, segmentation, and A/B message testing capability that drive consumer behavior toward goods and services can be adapted to health communications for public health impact [ 10 , 11 ]. Messages that are evidence-based, context-driven, and grounded in behavioral science have greater potential to influence attitudes towards vaccines, public trust, and health behavior, than generic, one-size-fits-all messages, but research is limited in converting these insights into effective digital messaging campaigns in low-and middle-income countries [ 12 , 13 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Persuasive COVID-19 vaccination campaigns on Facebook and nationwide vaccination coverage in Ukraine, India, and Pakistan

Winters,

Christie,

Lepage

et al. 2023

PLOS Glob Public Health

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Social media platforms have a wide and influential reach, and as such provide an opportunity to increase vaccine uptake. To date, there is no large-scale, robust evidence on the offline effects of online messaging campaigns. We aimed to test whether pre-tested, persuasive messaging campaigns from UNICEF, disseminated on Facebook, influenced COVID-19 vaccine uptake in Ukraine, India, and Pakistan. In Ukraine, we deployed a stepped-wedge randomized controlled trial (RCT). Half of the 24 oblasts (provinces) received five weeks of the intervention, the other half ten weeks of the intervention. In India, an RCT with an augmented synthetic control was conducted in five states (Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan), whereby 40 out of 174 districts were randomized to receive six weeks of intervention. In Pakistan we deployed a pre-post design, whereby 25 city districts received six weeks of the intervention. Weekly COVID-19 vaccination data was sourced through government databases. Using Poisson regression models, the association between the intervention and vaccine uptake was estimated. In Ukraine we conducted a survey among Facebook users at three time points during the RCT, to ascertain vaccination intentions and trust in vaccines. The campaigns reached more than 110 million Facebook users and garnered 2.9 million clicks. In Ukraine, we found that the intervention did not affect oblast-level vaccination coverage (Relative Risk (RR): 0.93, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 0.86–1.01). Similarly, in India and Pakistan we found no effect of our intervention (India: RR 0.85, 95% CI 0.70–1.04; Pakistan: RR 0.64, 95% CI 0.01–29.9). The survey among Facebook users in Ukraine showed that trust in vaccines and information sources was an important predictor of vaccination status and intention to get vaccinated. Our campaigns on Facebook had a wide reach, which did not translate in shifting behaviours. Timing and external events may have limited the effectiveness of our interventions.

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Addressing anemia among women in India—an informed intervention using Facebook Ad Manager

Diamond‐Smith

Holton

Francis³

et al. 2020

mHealth

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Background: Women in India continue to have high rates of anemia, especially in critical periods of adolescence and pregnancy. Anemia persists despite decades of government programs aimed at combatting anemia, including through the provision of iron folic acid tablets (IFA). With growing access to mobile phones and social media, even among women, mobile interventions hold potential for influencing knowledge and behaviors. Social media consumption, including on Facebook, is high in India. However, little research has explored if women can be reached with health messages using social media, if data can be collected through this mechanism, and if interventions using social media impact knowledge and behaviors surrounding important health issues such as anemia. The aims of this study were to test an advertising campaign on Facebook about anemia and IFA to women, collect data through social media, and measure its impact.Methods: A baseline survey and two follow-up surveys were sent to women via Facebook in 2019 in two states of India: Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Between each round of data collection, a set of advertisements based on gaps in knowledge and practices identified in the baseline on anemia and IFA were delivered to more than 3 million women on Facebook. Using this data, we analyze current knowledge and behaviors around anemia and IFA and look at differences by socio-demographics including age, Marital status, and pregnancy. Using logistic regression models, we then look for evidence of a significant change in knowledge and behaviors between rounds of data collection.Results: We find that while general knowledge about anemia was high, especially related to its importance in pregnancy, misperceptions persist, such as that it makes babies large and delivery difficult. Only about 15% of the population was currently taking IFA, although nearly 50% noted that they had at some point. Younger women had lower levels of knowledge and practices. Findings about the impact of the Ad campaigns were mixed, with some indicators changing in positive and some in negative directions and no clear trend between surveys. Two indicators that were of high focus in the Ad campaigns changed in the desired direction after both ad campaigns (iron can make labor/delivery difficult and iron supplements are only for women who have anemia).Conclusions: Overall, this study shows that a social media campaign about anemia has the potential to reach a large number of women in India, including young women, who are hard to reach if they are not in school or currently pregnant and seeing a physician. This study shows that it is possible to collect data from women through social media and measure the impact of an intervention. More research is needed to know if social media is an effective approach to actually change attitudes and behaviors related to anemia, or other important health concerns.

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Facebook Powered Measurement and Evaluation for Iron Folic Acid Health Intervention in India

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

When Your Audience Is Your Channel: Facebook for Behavior Change

When Your Audience Is Your Channel: Facebook for Behavior Change

Persuasive COVID-19 vaccination campaigns on Facebook and nationwide vaccination coverage in Ukraine, India, and Pakistan

Addressing anemia among women in India—an informed intervention using Facebook Ad Manager

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