Mtu ni Afya, Tanzania's health campaign
Hall, B.L.
Information Bulletin, Clearinghouse on Development Communication 9: 74
1978
Document Number: 564069
This account of the Tanzanian health campaign opens with a brief explanation of how radio forums fit into the mass media scheme. Campaigns run in other nations are reviewed, and aspects pertinent to the Tanzanian experience pinpointed. The health campaign followed earlier efforts at mass communication and propaganda through radio, the election campaign of 1970 (Uchaguzi ni Wako the choice is yours), and Wakati wa Furaha - time for rejoicing, the 10th anniversary of Independence in 1971. The three main aims of the health campaign were: (1) to increase people's awareness of how they can make their lives healthier and to encourage both groups and individuals to take appropriate action; (2) to provide clear and simple information about the symptoms of specific diseases and their prevention; and (3) to encourage those who had participated in the national literacy campaign to maintain their skills by reading campaign materials designed especially for the newly literate. In addition to the radio programmes, study guides and group leaders' manual were produced, training programmes were run for group leaders, who were recruited locally on fairly flexible criteria. The first broadcast went out in May 1973. Groups, their membership, and reactions are assessed. Group activities resulting from the campaign were limited only by the imaginations of the participants. Results of a follow-up survey are reported, partly with the aim of better integrating the campaign with national health services. Wider implications are drawn from the campaign on political implications, use of other forms of communication, integrated rural development. Some developments since the health campaign are briefly reviewed.