THE RESULTS OF OUR GROUND-BREAKING RANDOMISED CONTROLLED TRIAL
DMI is the first organisation to have scientifically demonstrated, with a randomised controlled trial (RCT), that mass media can affect behaviours (results published in BMJ Global Health). Our treatment-seeking campaign led to increases in treatment for malaria, diarrhoea and pneumonia of 56%, 73% and 39% respectively in the first year, all p<0.001, which corresponded to approximately 3,000 children’s lives saved over the course of the three year radio campaign in Burkina Faso. At an estimated $7 - $27 per DALY, this intervention is among the most cost-effective methods available for saving children’s lives.
The following one-minute animation explains our results:
The following one-minute animation explains our results:
2018 HIGHLIGHTS
REGIONAL FAMILY PLANNING CAMPAIGN IN WEST AFRICADMI successfully concluded its first multi-country campaign, acting in Burkina Faso, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Niger, Mali and Mauritania. It was part of UNFPA’s Sahel Women’s Empowerment and Demographic Dividend (SWEDD) project, and focused on promoting family planning. The animations have reached 277 million African television viewers and prompted 8 million views on Facebook since August 2018.
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CHILD SURVIVAL CAMPAIGN ON AIR IN MOZAMBIQUEThis project aims to increase the proportion of children in Mozambique who receive treatment for pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria by encouraging their parents to recognise the symptoms of these diseases and to take them to a health facility.
DMI estimates our messaging will reach more than 10 million people over 2 years in Mozambique. |
CAN MASS MEDIA INCREASE MODERN CONTRACEPTIVE UPTAKE?DMI recently conducted an RCT to investigate whether mass media can improve modern contraceptive prevalence rate in Burkina Faso. The intervention was broadcast on 8 partner radio stations, broadcasting 10 spots per day, every day, for 61 weeks in 5 languages. Results to be published soon.
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SIGNING ONTO DfID'S WISH PROGRAMME
The global WISH (Women's Integrated Sexual Health) programme is the biggest family planning intervention in DfID's history. DMI is working in partnership with IPPF, Marie Stopes International, Options, Humanity & Inclusion, and International Rescue Committee. We are working in 7 countries (Ethiopia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia) out of a total 16 intervention countries. More information to follow.
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OUR APPROACH TO CHANGING BEHAVIOURS
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Saturation. We apply a basic yet highly effective principle of commercial marketing: saturation (reach and frequency). Media campaigns are only effective if they reach the majority of the target audience, often enough to drive home the key messages and calls to action.
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Science. Media campaigns will only be seen as legitimate interventions if they can show impact. Until recently there was little evidence that media campaigns change behaviours. We have run the first randomised controlled trial to prove that a media campaign can change health behaviours in a low-income country.
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Stories. We cannot change behaviours if we do not conduct research to understand the values, motivations and concerns of our target audience. Media campaigns should be simple and emotionally engaging, motivating people to change their behaviours, rather than simply providing information.
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INDEPENDENT AUDITS OF DMI'S IMPACT
GiveWell has ranked DMI as one of the most high-impact, cost-effective non-profit organisations in the world.
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DMI earned the maximum grade of three stars for each quality component of the impact audit: (i) quality of evidence; (ii) quality of monitoring systems; and (iii) quality of protocols for iterative learning.
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DMI is on a list of highly effective charities drawn up by a panel of experts for The Life You Can Save.
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OUR PARTNERS AND FUNDERS
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FILMS ABOUT DMI
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Why DMI? DMI's CEO, Roy Head, describes how DMI was created to bring together the very different worlds of media and science, and how it has the potential to save many thousands of lives.
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Changing behaviours. Everything that DMI does is based on changing behaviours. To do this, we combine field research with creative techniques. This film shows that process at work in Burkina Faso.
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The science. What is the science that underpins DMI's work? How many lives can we actually save? What is a DALY? Professor Jimmy Whitworth, Dr Richard Horton and Roy Head present the key concepts.
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