On the question of public education…
I’ve seen exactly one bird flu awareness advertisement on television here, and it was from a cable station that I think originated from Singapore. Jackie Chan was folding paper cranes and playing with some children. He tells them it’s okay to play with toy birds, but it’s never okay to touch a sick or dead bird.
The campaign is from Hong Kong, and it was in English. As far as I know there is nothing to match it yet in Indonesia.
But I have been told by the United Nations PR machine that there will be a big public awareness media blitz rolled out in September. I can’t wait to see what they come up with.
A reader has asked me what kind of media access the villagers in Karo have.
I didn’t see many satellite dishes, but there are televisions in the houses and warungs. Mountain communities often don’t have much broadcast reception, and cable in remote areas is not likely. Metro TV is the nation’s favorite local news source, and I know that they have access to it.
There are plenty of newspapers and lots of coverage of the bird flu outbreaks. I honestly don’t know the literacy rate, but I would guess that there are enough readers in families, especially young people, for such information to get around. People talk about the news a lot there – more than in many western countries I’ve visited.
As for public education materials like signs or pamphlets, I only saw a few scattered examples. Even in hospitals, I found the presence of bird flu awareness posters rare. There was one in a corridor at the Adam Malik hospital in Medan, and one at the main health department office in Kaben Jahe.
Getting safety messages out about bird flu to stick may be even harder than with other diseases. Keep backyard chicken coops free of feces, stay away from sick chickens, report chicken deaths to the police, wash your hands when you’re around birds – that’s not very practical advice for most fowl owners. Raising birds is full of potential infection risks, and they’ve been doing it the same way for thousands of years.
And really, they don’t have a lot to gain from changing their behavior. The percentage of those who get infected is so small that it doesn’t seem like much of a looming threat. But at this point they have a lot to loose by reporting chicken sickness to police. They could loose their birds. A lot of people use chickens as liquid assets to pay for things like medical care or school fees for children. And they could trigger such a panic that the whole local agriculture industry could take a nosedive.
What’s at stake is pretty abstract for them, really. The negative consequences of cooperating are much higher than the perceived benefit. At this point, it’s hard to say how the real benefits of cooperating could overshadow the hardships.
It’s an interesting message to deliver. How would you wage this public information campaign? What would the poster captions read?
posted by Chad at 7:55 AM
3 Comments:
Thanks, Chad for a very detailed answer about education, media access and bird flu education. Much appreciated.
To your question about how to wage this campaign, here are some things I would do:
Theme the campaign with a photo of a grieving father carrying his dying child to the steps of the hospital (this photo should be made with models, not actual people). It should be heartwrenching to get peoples' attention. That theme should be repeated frequently in television and radio advertising (this is something that Western powers can pay for directly and not worry about corruption).
The captions should read something like this: "Don't let your child die."
The information after that should briefly give some safety tips, like keeping children away from birds or any sick animals, care in preparing poultry, symptoms that require immediate attention, etc.
Also, that same photo should be carried through in a myriad of posters and pamplets that capable volunteers put up in stores, hospitals, pharmacies, clinics, places where people gather in the villages.
Also since television is widely available, there should be an appeal to communities about getting volunteers involved, using churches and mosques and health care groups. Volunteers in these communities, if properly galvanized, could be the educating force, rather than corrupt and ineffective civil servants.
I read that there was a cell phone project -- maybe U.N. funded? -- that was going to be used by volunteers to report outbreak of illness. These individuals could be used for more than just reporting outbreaks.
People CAN be educated to the dangers, even though it will take time. The government has just not put any energy into it. There are NGOs that can assist in the education process just like in relief efforts for the other natural disasters that have befallen Indonesia. It's just not getting done for whatever reason.
I spent a few months collating publications from authorities that might be helpful to education the public. They are on a cd which can be shared easily with almost no need for internet access. I would be happy to send you some If you thing it would help. It covers flu information, prevention, treatment, disinfection, wildlife, emergency preparedness, end of life issues, food, and water issues. You can view it all on the website http://www.pandemicreferenceguides.com Maybe someone can take the idea and make a similar one in an Indonesian language. I understand many do not have computers. At least this contains materials that can be printed and distributed.
Just trying to help.
Post a Comment
<< Home