Radio Specialist Shares Experiences in Developing Countries
Contrary to prevailing American wisdom, television is not the most common communications medium in the world--radio is. Especially in developing countries where people and public health may be poor. To demonstrate to her students the importance of radio in public health, S. Bryn Austin, instructor in the Department of Health and Social Behavior, invited an international radio public health expert to describe his work as part of the course "Developing Radio Communications" on March 9.
"Radio is central to many peoples' lives," she said, "especially where other technology is minimal."
The expert, Edward Douglass, travels to foreign countries and helps public health workers develop their communications skills. He has worked in more than 10 nations, assisting in the creation of public health radio campaigns. He spoke to Austin's class for about 45 minutes through a teleconference phone call, a vehicle Austin purposefully chose.
"I thought it was especially appropriate to use audio only for a radio class," said Austin.
Austin wanted the students to learn about a variety of ways to deliver public health messages over radio waves, even when resources are lacking. She called upon Douglass because he is a "voice from the trenches," she said.
Some of Douglass' suggestions to the class were basic but effective. In Swaziland, for example, Douglass found that poor road conditions deterred journalists from interviewing people working at great distances. So he encouraged radio officials to buy inexpensive adapters that would allow telephone interviews to be broadcast over the radio.
The
country also had limited studio space where programs and public service
announcements could be taped. With Douglass' guidance, members of a family
planning association secured funding to build their own small studio where
they taped more sophisticated and effective programs and public service
announcements about subjects such as AIDS prevention and infant nutrition
using songs and themes reflective of the culture.
In straitlaced Malawi, where sexuality is not a matter for public discourse, Douglass was asked to evaluate a radio serial drama written by Malawians hoping to deliver safe-sex and other health messages. The long-running drama was about HIV/AIDS and was targeted to teenagers who would listen after school. To his surprise, Douglass found that adults were also tuning into a rebroadcast later at night and that both audiences had become deeply involved in the characters and what was happening to them as some became infected with HIV.
The drama provided a common reference for the dissemination and discussion of AIDS issues outside of standard public service announcements and clinical settings. The audience learned what to do, and what not to do, from what was happening to the characters in the drama, said Douglass.
He emphasized the importance of having local writers create and produce the messages. In the countries he visited, he asked the public health workers to create the story lines and write in their language and then translate into English for him. Otherwise, he said, they may inadvertently change the tone of their messages and miss their target audiences by incorporating Western themes and ideas. Douglass said he first recognized the influence of the media in developing countries when he was a Peace Corps worker in Cameroon in the early 1960s.
"I saw that the media could spur the process of social and economic development," said Douglass.
Austin said she was inspired to use a teleconference call with a public health expert in part by her father, who conducted a similar class at Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina 30 years ago when teleconferencing was new. The idea was still informative decades later.
"I think the class was the best replication of what it would be
like to do a radio interview over the phone," said Austin. "The
students got that experience while learning more about public health."
