By Vincent Gunde
The Development Media International DMI) is set to implement Maternal Neonatal and Child Health (MNCH) project to improve maternal, newborn, and child health outcomes in Malawi through a targeted Social Behavior Change (SBC) radio campaign.
The DMI designs and implements evidence- based Social Behavior Change (SBC) campaign to improve and save lives working in Malawi, Burkina Faso, Cote d’ivoire, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Mauritania, Mozambique, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
The campaign will be delivered solely through radio broadcasting 35 spots in two languages (Chichewa and Tumbuka) in three selected districts based on poor indicators and good radio listenership in Karonga, Dowa, and Mangochi.
Presenting the project to the District executive committee (Dec) in Dowa, DMI’s Senior Research Manager Stephen Kumwenda, said this campaign will educate and empower communities on essential MNCH practices, promote positive health behaviors and reduce preventable maternal and child deaths.
Kumwenda said the organization will conduct formative research to understand the behavior in context, developing campaign content as well as a message and distribution, pretesting developed materials with target audience and implementing intensive broadcasting including monitoring and evaluation.
He said the campaign is expected to promote early and consistent antenatal care (ANC) visits among pregnant women, increased usage of insecticide- treated nets during pregnancy, promotion of exclusive breastfeeding, and improved early detection and treatment of diarrhea, pneumonia, and malaria in children Under- Five.
“The campaign will use national and regional radio stations including MBC 1, MBC 2, Zodiak, Radio Maria, Radio Islam and Tuntufye with Africa Media Monitoring Agency helping to monitor broadcasts by the radio stations,” said Kumwenda.
In his remarks, Dowa District Council’s Chief Administrative Officer Mathews Mkandawire, called on partners implementing various interventions in the district to share progress reports of activities to the council.
Mkandawire proposed to the Dec that partners implementing new projects should sign Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the council and the CSO Network for the district before they go to the field for their projects to enhance cooperation, transparency and accountability.
