Unique project aims to measure impact of mass media on saving lives
9 March 2012
Development Media International (DMI) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine are running a cluster randomised controlled trial of this innovative child survival intervention. The project is funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Planet Wheeler Foundation, and the campaign will run for two-and-a-half years.
The project involves broadcasting messages on the most important underlying causes of death, not just individual issues. The first radio spots to be broadcast will promote exclusive breastfeeding, a behaviour that reduces the risk of a child dying from diarrhoea or respiratory infections.
The spots will be broadcast ten times per day, and there will be two hours of phone-in programming every night on seven community radio stations in Burkina Faso, which have partnered with DMI to deliver the campaign.
Roy Head, CEO of DMI, says: "We'll be measuring the impact more rigorously than has ever been done before. We're hoping to prove that we can change behaviours on a scale large enough to save a lot of lives."
DMI has worked with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to produce a mathematical model, based on the Lancet's Child Survival Series, that calculates the number of lives that can be saved by a comprehensive media campaign. The model predicts that by the third year, a campaign can reduce childhood mortality by 15 to 20 per cent per year.
The model also predicts that the cost-effectiveness of a campaign (at between $2 and $9 per 'disability-adjusted life year') is better than any other currently available intervention, including bednets for malaria and childhood immunisations. If the model's predictions are validated, it will be the cheapest way of saving children's lives that exists. The study is the first time that the impact of mass media on lives saved has been either modelled or measured.
"We'll be measuring the impact using a robust scientific methodology: a cluster randomised controlled trial. It will be the largest, most rigorous evaluation ever conducted of a mass media intervention, and it will be exciting to find out how many lives can be saved using this approach," says Professor Simon Cousens, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the lead investigator.
The project relies on close partnerships within Burkina Faso. The evaluation of the intervention is managed in partnership with Centre Muraz, a biomedical research institute in Burkina Faso, and the project is being delivered in collaboration with the Ministry of Health of Burkina Faso.
The funding of the project represents a unique combination of interests. The Wellcome Trust - the UK's leading scientific foundation - are funding the evaluation, whereas the media elements are funded by the Planet Wheeler Foundation, set up by Maureen and Tony Wheeler, the founders of the Lonely Planet travel series.
Dr Jimmy Whitworth, Head of International Activities at the Wellcome Trust, says: "This exciting study aims to answer the question 'Do mass media campaigns save lives?' This is a fundamental question for public health today, when television and radio are reaching more people around the world than ever before.
"While mass media campaigns are increasingly being used, they have never before been rigorously evaluated. The results of this study could dramatically change the way we approach mass communication for health in the future."
Image: A radio microphone. Credit: cogdogblog on Flickr.
