Health Page 98.4 – Zimbabwe (ZiMSA)

Name of the activity: Health Page 98.4

Country/NMO: Zimbabwe (ZiMSA)

Program: Healthy Lifestyles & Non-Communicable Diseases

Contact information: [email protected]

Type of the activity: Campaign

General description:

The health page is published every fortnight during the semester. We have 5 issues that come out each semester. To cut down on costs each issues is published as a softcopy in the pdf format. The radio talk show is 30 minutes long during which time listeners can ask questions which we discuss and answer

Focus area:

Prevention of NCDs and Health Promotion

Problem statement:

As one of the countries that were hardest hit by the HIV/AIDS epidemic Zimbabwe’s health resources were channeled into combating Sexually transmitted diseases. At the time NCDs weren’t as prevalent in our country but now the number of people suffering from non communicable diseases is rising and with that the death toll also climbs with an estimated 31% of deaths in Zimbabwe in 2014 being due to NCDs.

Target groups and beneficiaries:

Our project has grown and turned into a mass media campaign that is aiming to bring about a positive change in health related behavior across the whole Zimbabwean population.

Objectives and indicators of success:

Education on preventing NCDs and the risk factors the adverse health related issues and how to deal with them

The measure of our success is number of people that we can reach and the level of interest shown. Our talk show on 98.4 FM is broadcast to 1 600 000 people and the level of interest shown by the audience

In the long run the objectives will be met by indicators and statistics showing a decrease in death rates from NCDs

Methodology:

The health page is published every fortnight during the semester. We have 5 issues that come out each semester. To cut down on costs each issues is published as a softcopy in the pdf format.

The health talk is every Wednesday from 19.30 to 20.00 on 98.4 FM Midlands. To start of the discussion we present on a topic for 10minutes then Via the radio station’s whatsapp platform listeners can ask questions which we then answer and discuss during the course of the show. Usually the content of the show is in synch with the publication we would have released.

Plans for evaluation:

A random population of students is given a questioner on a certain topic, then if the level of knowledge on the topic is unsatisfactory we do an article on the topic and discuss it on the radio talk show. Questioners are given to same group once again after the show. The the two questioners are compared. Feedback on radio station’s Whatsapp platform during talk show also gives us a rough estimate of the listeners knowledge on topic.