An examination of the communication strategies and techniques used by the Society for Family Health in malaria control programme in Luangwa

Abstract

This report is a result of a study whose main objective was to evaluate some of the communication strategies and techniques used by Society for Family Health (SFH) in the fight against malaria in Luangwa District. In pursuing this objective, the study found out how much people knew about malaria and to what extent people at the grass root level were involved in malaria prevention programmes. The study also established people’s attitudes towards the distribution, acquisition and use of insecticide treated net. On the positive note, the SFH malaria control programme Luangwa District has done very well in using both interpersonal and mass communication channels to increase people’s knowledge about malaria and make them believe that slashing around their homes and burying pools of water can help to reduce the malaria incidence. On the level of practice, the intervention had succeeded in getting people to sleep under ITNs. Even so, some people still do not know what the cause of malaria is. Worse still, the majority do not consider malaria to be a very serious disease. Moreover, the malaria control programme was mostly carried out on a non-participatory basis. Lastly, some of the messages used were too difficult to be understood by the target audience. Therefore, it is recommended that there should be continuous sensitization on malaria. Furthermore, malaria prevention efforts should concentrate on changing people’s attitudes towards malaria in terms of its severity. Lastly, the fight against malaria should be a continuous process in which people at the grassroots participate fully because the success of any programme depends, to a large extent, on the participation of the target audience.