|
Assessing Uganda’s public
communications campaigns strategy for effective national
health policy awareness
Wilson Okaka
Kyambogo University (Uganda),
P.O.Box 29, Kyambogo, Kampala, Uganda.
E-mail:
nupap2000@yahoo.com. Tel: (256) 0782588846.
Accepted
18 September, 2009 |
|
Uganda
government’s national health policy communication campaign
strategy has been done in a socio-economic, legal and
environmental context dominated by chronic poverty,
ignorance, disease and official corruption. Deficiencies in
the national health policy awareness, knowledge, risky
behaviour and superstitions have increased the incidents of
illnesses, diseases, deaths and poverty in Uganda. Published
evidence on the effectiveness of the national health
communication campaign strategy for stakeholders’
empowerment was obtained and reviewed. Additional
information was accessed using internet search engines and
libraries. All documents that were obtained during the
review process were used to broaden the search for primary
information sources. Initially more information was sought
from the databases of national, regional, and international
agencies. In the searches, the author looked for documents
on effectiveness of the objectives of effective health
policy communication campaign strategy in influencing the
audiences’ knowledge, attitudes, perceptions, and behaviour
towards adaptation to health seeking behaviour. It emerged
that a combined use of both mass media and interpersonal
communication channels provide the maximum audience exposure
to the intended national health policy messages to the
target audiences. Effective communication campaign strategy
is critical in creating, raising, developing and sustaining
the national health policy awareness for the desired health
behaviour change in the country. The current national
strategy does not synchronize epidemic dynamics with
prevention messages. Its major focus on the mass media
compromises the role of interpersonal communication to
individuals in making personal decision. The message design
is not audience-centred and too general to appeal to an
individual audience.
Key
words:
Awareness,
communications, participation, audience, message, media. |
