Learn how we use evidence-based behaviour change campaigns to improve and save lives in low-income countries.
Learn about how DMI brings together two different worlds: demonstrable scientific practice and creative storytelling.
We have conducted several randomised controlled trials (RCTs) to test the impact of media campaigns on behaviours relating to child survival, family planning, and early childhood development (ECD). These are the first RCTs to prove that mass media can change crucial health behaviours.
Can these findings be extrapolated to other countries? Yes. We have delivered campaigns addressing the same themes in many countries across sub-Saharan Africa, all of which show (using non-experimental designs) a strong impact.
We have even more data, originally published in The Lancet in 2015, which shows evidence of impact across Asia, Africa and South America. You can read more about these interventions in the PDF below.
2003 - 2006 Pregnant women using iron supplements
REPORTED BEHAVIOUR
2003 - 2006 Pregnant women attending ante-natal check-ups
2009 Women planning to give birth in a health facility
2009 Baby breastfed within an hour of birth
2002 - 2005 Children observed with clean hands
OBSERVED BEHAVIOUR
2002 - 2005 Trachoma prevalence (in areas receiving no antibiotics)
2002 - 2003 Children observed with clean hands
2002 - 2003 Households reporting eye problems within last year
1999 - 2000 People unwilling to sit beside person with leprosy.
2003 Calls to leprosy hotline
2006 Nationwide diagnostic tests 3 months before and after campaign