DMI: How mass media can save a million lives
DMI delivers mass media campaigns to change behaviours and save lives in developing countries. It is the first media organisation to use scientific modelling in order to save the greatest number of lives in the most cost-effective way.
LIFE-SAVING RADIO CAMPAIGN LAUNCHES IN BURKINA FASO: Lonely Planet founders join together with the Wellcome Trust to tackle child mortality with a pioneering new project (read more)
Nearly eight million children worldwide die under the age of five every year.
In 2010 one in eight children in sub-Saharan Africa died before their fifth birthday. Scientific evidence (from the landmark 2003 Lancet Child Survival Series) suggests that almost two-thirds of these deaths could be avoided by increasing coverage of simple, existing interventions, such as exclusive breastfeeding or hand washing.
Behaviour change is critical in order to reduce child mortality.
Many people cannot recognise when their child has a potentially dangerous illness, or do not know what to do about it, so many deaths are due to lack of knowledge rather than lack of healthcare services. Our campaigns have demonstrated dramatic increases in the uptake of many basic interventions. For example, hand washing in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia increased from 24% to 74% over a 3 year period . Media campaigns – unlike healthcare services – are also easy to take to scale. In most of our priority countries over 75% of people regularly listen to the radio or watch TV. The potential to achieve large-scale, rapid behaviour change through media campaigns, therefore, is immense. Until now, despite substantial evidence of behaviour change, it has not been possible to prove the impact on saving lives.
Our unique model predicts how many lives we can save, and at what cost.
DMI has worked with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to produce a mathematical model, based on the Lancet Child Survival Series, which allows us to predict and measure how many lives can be saved through mass media campaigns. The model predicts that a sustained, multi-disease campaign in a given country will reduce childhood mortality by 10 to 20% per year by year three. It also predicts that its cost-effectiveness (at between $2 and $9 per ‘disability-adjusted life year’ or DALY) is better than any currently available intervention, including bed nets for malaria and childhood immunisations. This would make mass media the cheapest way of saving lives that currently exists. We are now running a five-year cluster randomised controlled trial in Burkina Faso, funded by the Wellcome Trust and Planet Wheeler Foundation, to test these predictions. This is the largest, most rigorous evaluation ever conducted of a mass media intervention.
Our team has been delivering behaviour change campaigns for 20 years.
DMI's team has led some of the world's most successful health campaigns in recent years, with experience in 30 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America. Our campaigns focus on a range of health issues, rather than on single ‘vertical’ topics. We also build health communications capacity as part of sustainable health systems, training local broadcasters and Ministries of Health. Each campaign is country-specific and is based on detailed formative research, taking into account the health and media landscape, and local culture, languages and barriers to behaviour change.
Our model predicts that if we could conduct campaigns in 10 countries over the next 10 years, we should save 1.1 million lives. We are currently seeking partners to help us to scale up our programme across Africa and Asia to reach this target.
LIFE-SAVING RADIO CAMPAIGN LAUNCHES IN BURKINA FASO: Lonely Planet founders join together with the Wellcome Trust to tackle child mortality with a pioneering new project (read more)
Nearly eight million children worldwide die under the age of five every year.
In 2010 one in eight children in sub-Saharan Africa died before their fifth birthday. Scientific evidence (from the landmark 2003 Lancet Child Survival Series) suggests that almost two-thirds of these deaths could be avoided by increasing coverage of simple, existing interventions, such as exclusive breastfeeding or hand washing.
This TV spot was part of a campaign DMI conducted in Brazil in 2006 to raise awareness of TB. For more examples of campaigns, click here.
Many people cannot recognise when their child has a potentially dangerous illness, or do not know what to do about it, so many deaths are due to lack of knowledge rather than lack of healthcare services. Our campaigns have demonstrated dramatic increases in the uptake of many basic interventions. For example, hand washing in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia increased from 24% to 74% over a 3 year period . Media campaigns – unlike healthcare services – are also easy to take to scale. In most of our priority countries over 75% of people regularly listen to the radio or watch TV. The potential to achieve large-scale, rapid behaviour change through media campaigns, therefore, is immense. Until now, despite substantial evidence of behaviour change, it has not been possible to prove the impact on saving lives.
Our unique model predicts how many lives we can save, and at what cost.
DMI has worked with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to produce a mathematical model, based on the Lancet Child Survival Series, which allows us to predict and measure how many lives can be saved through mass media campaigns. The model predicts that a sustained, multi-disease campaign in a given country will reduce childhood mortality by 10 to 20% per year by year three. It also predicts that its cost-effectiveness (at between $2 and $9 per ‘disability-adjusted life year’ or DALY) is better than any currently available intervention, including bed nets for malaria and childhood immunisations. This would make mass media the cheapest way of saving lives that currently exists. We are now running a five-year cluster randomised controlled trial in Burkina Faso, funded by the Wellcome Trust and Planet Wheeler Foundation, to test these predictions. This is the largest, most rigorous evaluation ever conducted of a mass media intervention.
Our team has been delivering behaviour change campaigns for 20 years.
DMI's team has led some of the world's most successful health campaigns in recent years, with experience in 30 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America. Our campaigns focus on a range of health issues, rather than on single ‘vertical’ topics. We also build health communications capacity as part of sustainable health systems, training local broadcasters and Ministries of Health. Each campaign is country-specific and is based on detailed formative research, taking into account the health and media landscape, and local culture, languages and barriers to behaviour change.
Our model predicts that if we could conduct campaigns in 10 countries over the next 10 years, we should save 1.1 million lives. We are currently seeking partners to help us to scale up our programme across Africa and Asia to reach this target.