Account Executive
Washington DC
Posts: 6
Farha is a former Account Executive at Ogilvy PR.
Farha Marfani
The Fight Against Polio: Health Communication Lessons from India’s Success
Apr 24
“Polio can be stopped when countries combine the right elements: political will, quality immunization campaigns and an entire nation’s determination. We must build on this historic moment and ensure that India’s polio program continues to move full-steam ahead until eradication is achieved.” – Bill Gates
Image credit: Gates Foundation, Flickr
Earlier this year, the global health community was witness to a huge achievement, which involved overcoming one of the world’s historic public health challenges. This past January, India recorded a full year without a new case of polio, moving it one step closer to being officially removed from the list of four countries where the disease remains endemic. The other three countries are Nigeria, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. As a Pakistani-American and with a family member who has a form of polio, I am personally fascinated by this public health success and the lessons that we, as social marketers and public health communicators, can glean from this monumental effort.
Polio is a highly infectious viral disease, mainly affects children under five years of age, and leads to irreversible paralysis. While it cannot be cured, it can be prevented through drops of oral polio vaccine given to children under five years of age. As long as a single child remains infected, children in all countries are at risk of contracting polio.
In 1988, at a time when the virus was paralyzing 1,000 children around the world every day, half of them in India, the World Health Organization, Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the United Nations Children’s Fund launched the global campaign to eradicate polio. In 1995, after garnering political will, support and manpower, India began its mass vaccination campaign, but volunteers were faced with skeptics and rampant rumors that the polio vaccine caused illness and infertility and that the vaccination campaign was a Western conspiracy to curb the growth of Muslims. Thus began a massive public education and advocacy campaign that focused on building confidence and credibility in the polio eradication initiative.
Early on in the initiative, it became clear that information alone is not sufficient to encourage behavior and social change. A paper in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization outlines key strategies and lessons learned from polio eradication efforts in India and Pakistan, which continue to tackle deep rooted religious, socio-cultural and political resistance to eradication:
- Engage influencers as spokespeople. The polio campaign gained the support of religious and community leaders, who became strong community allies and were able to convert their communities. Messaging was infused into religious sermons and mosque announcements to reach community members, and Imams (religious leaders) welcomed families to vaccination booths.
- Carefully segment the target audience and reach them through interpersonal communication. With the backing of community leaders, the campaign targeted women and female caregivers, the primary decisionmakers on child health. Trained female health workers were able to convey the safety, efficacy and benefits of the vaccine.
- Location, location, location. Take the product to the audience.
In addition to a house-to-house strategy, vaccination booths were set up across the country. Taking into account constant migration, booths were also set up at train and bus stations and border posts to ensure that hard-to-reach children, including those of migrant workers, were vaccinated. - Constantly monitor and track data. A disease surveillance system facilitates case reporting and enables swift responses if a case is found. Volunteers set out every day to examine babies and collect stool samples for testing. Health centers, doctors and even spiritual healers are trained to report the first sign of symptoms that might indicate polio.
The routine monitoring of epidemiological data and disease surveillance is especially important to ensure full eradication of the virus. India will not be certified completely polio-free until it goes at least three full years without a case. On the race to wipe out a fatal disease ingrained in the country’s history, it is nearly at the finish line.
Although the campaign has been successful — testament to its strategic and synergistic communication efforts — it has also been controversial. Some argue that the campaign is narrow-minded; that it is only focused on eradicating polio, to the detriment of other pressing public health issues in the region, such as malaria, malnutrition, and maternal health.
Still, India’s success serves as a blueprint for other countries, motivating them to use the same model to tackle other critical public health challenges. The world awaits for Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan to follow in India’s footsteps and achieve a similarly successful outcome.
What are your thoughts on this global health communication effort? What other lessons can we learn?
Minorities Favor Government Using Social Media
Aug 19
I recently came across a study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, which discusses how Americans use government Web sites, and how social media can be integrated into the government’s online presence. The study is over a year old, but given that in the past year alone, social media has sparked social, cultural, and in particular, political revolutions, the findings are still timely. According to this study (which is loaded with information), the government’s role in the online space, and in particular, the social media space, is sure to resonate with its constituents, and especially its minorities.
One finding which particularly struck me was the conclusion that minorities are equally likely to get government information using digital platforms and furthermore, that African Americans and Latinos, compared to whites, are more likely to express positive attitudes towards government engagement in social media. Check out this video by study author Aaron Smith, Research Specialist at the Pew Internet and American Life Project, who briefly explains.
While the study does note that the average government Web site user is affluent, highly educated and White, minorities do still use the internet and social media to obtain government information. In fact, minority Americans were more likely than Whites to believe that government social media outreach makes the government agencies and officials more accessible.
For social marketers who search for the best ways to reach their audiences, and for those of us who work on government campaigns, we can use studies like this to reassure, and encourage, our clients that social media is a viable and valuable option to reach our minority audiences.
The findings are not too surprising, given recent studies that mention that the digital divide is now decreasing, and that more people are now able to get online. But, what’s interesting is the extent to which we embrace social media, so much so, that we’re encouraging our government to collaborate with us in this way. And, according to the report, Americans don’t believe the government is wasting money by using social media. (Surprising, I know).
So, what are some ways that the government can strike a chord with minorities? Well, for starters, begin blogging, friending, and tweeting.
New USDA Food Plate Replaces Pyramid
Jun 07
Last week, the USDA unveiled its new visual nutrition guide – a food plate, which replaced its obtuse and often hard to understand food guide pyramid. According to the food guide pyramid, servings of grains should make up the most of the food that we eat. This is no longer the case in USDA’s new nutrition guidelines.
Grains make up only a quarter of the food plate. Fruits and vegetables make up half of the food plate, protein is a smaller quarter of the plate, and dairy is placed off to the side. This suggests that most of the food we eat should be fruits and vegetables. This wasn’t so clear in the original food guide pyramid, which placed fruits and vegetables in the middle of the pyramid. Moreover, the pyramids assumed that we would know what a “serving” actually means. Who would have thought that a serving of meat equals the size of a deck of cards and a serving of fruit is the size of a tennis ball? The newer version of the food guide pyramid, which showed a person running up the side, didn’t make things any clearer.
Other messages, which accompany the food plate, refer to portion sizes, low sodium, sugar, and fat:
- Enjoy your food, but eat less.
- Avoid oversized portions.
- Make half of your plate fruits and vegetables.
- Make at least half of your grains whole grains.
- Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk.
- Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals – and choose the foods with lower numbers.
- Drink water instead of sugary drinks.
The new food plate has been well-received so far, compared to its precursor pyramid. Some mention that it is so simple that even children can understand its message. Also, the plate is a symbol which makes more sense as a visual guide referring to food. It is now easier to “see,” just by looking at our plates, if we are following the nutritional guidelines. In fact, USDA invited Americans to post pictures of their individual food plates on Twitter, by using the hash-tag #MyPlate.
What are the implications of these new dietary guidelines and new visual for social marketers?
Well first off, this changes the nutrition messages that we promote, especially on behalf of our government clients.
But perhaps more importantly, this example shows that representing messages with simple graphics are more effective. Simple visuals are more memorable and salient, and crafting a graphic that directly relates to the topic at hand, instead of a graphic that misses the mark, is more likely to resonate.
What are your thoughts on the new food plate? Do you get excited when you can see that half of your plate really is filled with fruits and vegetables, or do you think that the new food plate will hardly make a difference in your diet?
Recent Comments