Improving Family Health in Somalia Vocabulary and Expressions neonatal

Improving Family Health in Somalia
   Somalia has some of the worst maternal, neonatal and child mortality rates in the world. One in ten Somali children dies before their first birthday and one woman in every 16 women dies from pregnancy-related causes.
   Tiraarka Qoyska (Pillars of the Family)used radio drama and discussion to improve people’s knowledge about nutrition and hygiene as well as encouraging them to adopt healthy habits.
   Research was undertaken at each stage of the project: at the formative stage to understand target audiences and assess people’s knowledge; during pre-testing of the radio shows before broadcast; and quantitative and qualitative evaluation at the end of the project to measure impact.
   The drama was set in a fictional camp for internally displaced people called Dareemo (which means "hay," emphasizing the programme’s rural setting).
   Characters were carefully crafted to reflect all three regions of the country — Somaliland, Puntland and South-Central Somalia — with some of them following traditional health beliefs while others opted for scientific treatments.
   The drama brought to life a number of health-related issues aimed at encouraging women to start breastfeeding within an hour after birth, for example, or communicating the importance of giving a child extra food and fluids when they’re sick.
   One of the characters in the drama, a young woman called Istaahil, for example, listens to her mother’s advice and gives water to her newborn baby, who, sadly, dies. When Istaahil becomes pregnant again, she reads a government pamphlet about the importance of exclusive breastfeeding, and after successfully winning over her skeptical mother, she has a healthy baby boy.
   To extend the reach and impact of the programme, BBC Media Action trained more than 60 facilitators to conduct listening groups and developed "media toolkits" — consisting of information cards and audio recordings — for health workers to use when visiting families.
   The mixed-methods impact evaluation showed that listening to Tiraarka Qoyska was associated with improved knowledge, attitudes and health practices among mothers of babies under one year old in Somaliland, in particular with regards to the prevention and treatment of illness.