Public engagement in Malawi through a health-talk radio programme ‘Umoyo nkukambirana’: A mixed-methods evaluation

Abstract

Radio is an effective source of health information in many resource poor countries. In Malawi, 53% of households own radios however few radio programmes in Malawi focus on health issues in the context of medical research. An interactive health-talk radio programme ‘Umoyo nkukambirana’ was introduced by Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme on a national radio station. The aim was to increase awareness of health and medical research, and improve engagement between researchers, healthcare workers and the public. The content and presentation were developed through participatory community consultations. Focus Group Discussions were conducted with established Radio Listening Clubs whilst quantitative data was collected using toll free FrontlineSMS to explore national response. A total of 277 to 695 SMS (Median: 477) were received per theme. The majority of SMS were received from men (64%) and mainly from rural areas (54%). The programme improved knowledge of medical research, health and dispelled misconceptions. This study suggests that the radio may be an effective means of increasing the exposure of men to health information in resource poor settings.

Knowledge and Practices of Cervical Cancer among Married Men in Rural Phalombe?

“…Radio was the most common source of information on cervical cancer and screening followed by health workers. This finding is consistent with a study that was conducted by Nyirenda and colleagues [14] on public engagement in Malawi through a health-talk radio programme which found that men's participation from the rural area was greater than that of women. This might be attributed to the fact that many people in rural areas especially men rely on the radio for information on different development programmes [15].…”

“…Just a few of the participants" spouses have been screened for cervical cancer in this study. These results are similar with several studies that have found low utilization of cervical cancer screening services in Africa [12][13][14]. In rural, Zimbabwe Mupepi and colleagues [11] found that only 9 % of the study participants had been screened for cervical cancer.…”

“…In rural, Zimbabwe Mupepi and colleagues [11] found that only 9 % of the study participants had been screened for cervical cancer. Equally in a cross section study that was conducted in Burkina Faso among women aged between 20 -50 years of age, only 11.07% of the women had ever been screened for cervical cancer [14]. A study by Hami and friends [12] on intentions to use cervical cancer screening services among women aged 42 and older in Malawi reported that only 24.7% of the study participants had ever been screened for cervical cancer.…”

Strengthening ethical community engagement in contemporary Malawi

“…Many publications report use of community sensitization meetings, media, and involvement of community leaders, community representatives and other stakeholders to increase knowledge of medical research, improve study acceptability and support trial implementation, rather than engaging communities in participatory processes throughout research design and implementation 6– 11 .…”

Assessing the effectiveness of a longitudinal knowledge dissemination intervention: Sharing research findings in rural South Africa

“…Other methods of dissemination such as theatre, which has been used to effect in this setting (Stuttaford et al 2006), postal drops of small, focused A5 pictograms, community radio, TV and social media may be useful in communicating results. Radio-based soap operas or talk shows (edutainment) have been effective in engaging the public with health research in Malawi (Nyirenda et al 2016) and South Africa (Jana et al 2015). Longitudinal HDSS sites have an opportunity to develop strategies for regular information sharing through community advisory groups (Reddy et al 2010) and wider village-based dissemination.…”