Communication for Better Health

Communication
Channel

Examples of
Activities

Advantages

Disadvantages

Mass Media Channels

Broadcast (television or radio at national or regional level)

• Public service announcements (PSAs), commercials
• Talk shows
• Call-in shows (for example, “ask the expert” shows, contests)
• Diaries (reality programming)
• Serial dramas
• Situation comedies
• Magazine or variety shows
• Animated cartoons
• Music videos
• Songs and jingles
• Celebrity endorsements

• Range of formats conducive to health messages available, particularly for television
• Can be highly creative
• Dramas and comedies can depict behaviors rather than describe them.
• Reaches a large percentage of the intended audience
• Opportunity for direct audience involvement through call-in shows
• Can use local languages and dialects
• Comes into the home and can promote family discussion

• Difficult for intended audience to keep or pass on material
• Production and air time can be costly (radio less costly than television).
• Message may be obscured by commercial clutter.

Print media

• News coverage and advertising in newspapers and magazines
• Direct mail
• Decision-making aids for clients and providers
• Comic books, photonovelas (a comic book-like form that uses photos to tell a dramatic story)
• Pamphlets, fliers
• Posters, billboards

• Reaches a large percentage of the intended audience
• Can cover news more thoroughly than television or radio
• Intended audience has the chance to clip, reread, contemplate, and pass along material.
• Small-circulation papers may take PSAs free of charge.

• For literate audience only
• News coverage demands a newsworthy item.
• Larger circulation papers may take only paid ads and inserts.
• Exposure usually limited to one day
• Keeping up good relations with news media
can be time-consuming.

Information and Communication Technology

• Internet Web sites, social media (for example, e-forums, blogs, and chat rooms), distance learning
• CD-ROMs
• Mobile phone programs

• Can reach large numbers of people rapidly
• Many formats are available whenever the user wants access.
• Can instantaneously update and disseminate information
• Can be interactive and user-directed
• Can combine the audio-visual benefits of television or radio with the self-pacing of reading

• Many intended audiences do not have access to the Internet.
• Intended audience must search or sign up for information.
• Newsgroups and chat rooms usually require monitoring.

Interpersonal Channels

Between provider and client, teacher and student, parent and child, or among peers

• Telephone hotline
• Client counseling
• Instruction
• Informal discussion groups

• Can be more credible because it is face-to-face
• Permits dialogue (most participatory form of communication) and responds immediately to the individual
• Can motivate, influence, and support

• Can be expensive initially and/or costly to scale up
• Reach may be limited
• Difficult to keep messages consistent
• Requires specific training

Community-Based Channels

Community mobilization, group interaction

• Discussion groups, peer support groups, listening groups, workplace groups
• Community meetings
• Rallies

• Greater opportunity to use participatory approaches
• May have more credibility because trusted local leaders and/or organizations are involved
• Enhances sustainability of effort
• Can cost little depending on number of participating communities

• Costly to scale up
• Low reach compared with mass media
• Low frequency
• Difficult for intended audience to keep or pass on material (for community media)

Outreach activities by program staff or community members

• Community, village-to-village
• Household
• Peer-to-peer

Live performances

• Street theater
• Puppet shows
• Talent shows
• Contests (talent, art, or dance)

Community media

• Community newspapers
• Local radio