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.
Location Child survival
At the beginning of 2023, there were over 1.8 million internally displaced people (IDPs) in Burkina Faso, owing to the continuing security situation (UNOCHA, 2023). The regions most affected by IDP influx were also those most affected by health centre deterioration and closure. We broadcast spots across Burkina Faso to encourage parents of children under five to seek treatment for preventable and curable illnesses and provide advice to those without access to health centres.
Burkina Faso
Child survival – treatment and prevention of malaria, diarrhoea, and pneumonia.
26 x 1-minute radio spots.
Our spots were broadcast up to 10 times a day, every day, on 28 local radio stations, from April 2023 to March 2024. The spots were accompanied by long format shows on two radio stations, twice per week.
9 million
Science
Malaria, diarrhoea, and pneumonia are three of the biggest killers of under-fives in Burkina Faso. DMI’s first RCT in Burkina Faso proved that a DMI Saturation+ child survival campaign led to an increase in treatment-seeking for malaria, diarrhoea, and pneumonia of 56%, 73%, and 39% respectively (all p<0.001). We have since scaled up our child survival radio campaign to a national level.
Continued broadcast of health messaging was particularly critical at the start of this campaign, when the security situation in Burkina Faso left almost two million people internally displaced. This increase in IDPs, coupled with the closure of hundreds of health centres, put strain on remaining health services, leaving millions more vulnerable to disease than ever. Radio remains one of the few remaining tools available for supporting these crisis-affected populations.
Stories
DMI Burkina Faso has a repository of maternal and child health spots that were broadcast alongside new content addressing treatment-seeking during the security situation. With many people unable to access health centres, our spots focused on the prevention of common illness, and some placed additional emphasis on ways to treat milder ailments outside of health centres, for example using oral rehydration solutions for diarrhoea. The first batch of Laafi spots broadcast focused on malaria prevention, namely the use of bed nets.
Saturation
We monitored the security situation carefully and adapted where we broadcast our content accordingly. Radio stations were divided into three broadcast zones: standard, blockaded, and displacement. In standard zones, DMI spots can be played as usual, with LiST modelling used to determine the message weighting. In displacement zones, spots still recommend visiting the health centre, but also acknowledge the barriers of longer waiting times when taking children for treatment. In blockaded zones where centre-based healthcare is severely limited, spots direct parents towards community health workers and place emphasis on ways to treat milder illness without seeking healthcare.
We are grateful to several private donors, primarily from the Effective Altruism Community, for supporting this project.
What Next
We have secured funding to expand the scope of this project to continue to reach IDPs and parents of under-fives in Burkina Faso for an additional two years.