HealthText: SMS and Community Radio Activate Health Information Flow in Kenya

[Guest guest]

HealthText: SMS and Community Radio Activate Health Information Flow in a Kenyan

Slum

Country

Kenya

Programme Summary

Launched in November 2010, Internews and its partners HealthMap and Medic Mobile

are developing an 18-month pilot project in the Korogocho slum area of Nairobi,

Kenya, designed to respond to public health needs and improve disease outbreak

preparedness and response to endemic diseases. The project uses new technologies

and community mapping to link health workers to a local community radio station.

Communication Strategies

The project seeks to ensure that citizens are informed faster about disease

outbreaks and emerging health trends, becoming empowered with information to

take preventative and curative action. Meanwhile, community health workers will

be able to improve their targeting of resources and communication with their

full network of colleagues serving Korogocho.

The mapping project is designed to create an information chain from community

health workers to the radio station to listeners, using SMS text messaging and

new media platforms. Health information trends are identified and located, then

interpreted and broadcast on Koch FM, a community radio station in Korogocho.

To lay the groundwork for the project, Internews and Google partnered to develop

an interactive map of the Kenyan slum of Korogocho in Nairobi. The map will help

monitor and visualise timely health information in the community. The project

was carried out by a group of Korogocho residents, journalists from Koch FM, and

health workers who mapped out the nine villages within Korogocho in immense

detail.

Click here to view the map in Google Map Maker.

According to the organisers, knowing where people are on a map has an ability to

bring people together, even in the most difficult living conditions. Residents

showed great enthusiasm during community mapping, and partners were impressed at

what the group had done in just three days of mapping. One of the journalists

working on the project also said that besides the excitement of putting his

station on the map, he is now better able to visualise the area where his

station reports from and broadcasts. He said that this will help him network

with community health workers and residents who will contribute in gathering

information for the station. Organisers report that health workers have also

mentioned it will make coordination of their work much easier.

Development Issues

Health

Key Points

The slum of Korogocho in Nairobi, Kenya is one of the largest by population in

Africa with some 200,000 people living in an area no bigger than a few New York

City blocks.

Partners

Internews, Google, HealthMap, Medic Mobile, Radio Koch, and the African

Population and Health Research Centre.

Contact

Ida Jooste

Country Director

Internews - Kenya

13th Floor I & M Building

Kenyatta Avenue

Nairobi

00200

Kenya

Tel: +254 20 2228699

Internews website

ijooste@...

Related Summaries

Koch FM

Source

Internews website and Internews e-newsletter on December 1 2010.

Placed on the Soul Beat Africa site December 09 2010

Last Updated February 20 2011

[Guest guest]

HealthText: SMS and Community Radio Activate Health Information Flow in a Kenyan

Slum

Country

Kenya

Programme Summary

Launched in November 2010, Internews and its partners HealthMap and Medic Mobile

are developing an 18-month pilot project in the Korogocho slum area of Nairobi,

Kenya, designed to respond to public health needs and improve disease outbreak

preparedness and response to endemic diseases. The project uses new technologies

and community mapping to link health workers to a local community radio station.

Communication Strategies

The project seeks to ensure that citizens are informed faster about disease

outbreaks and emerging health trends, becoming empowered with information to

take preventative and curative action. Meanwhile, community health workers will

be able to improve their targeting of resources and communication with their

full network of colleagues serving Korogocho.

The mapping project is designed to create an information chain from community

health workers to the radio station to listeners, using SMS text messaging and

new media platforms. Health information trends are identified and located, then

interpreted and broadcast on Koch FM, a community radio station in Korogocho.

To lay the groundwork for the project, Internews and Google partnered to develop

an interactive map of the Kenyan slum of Korogocho in Nairobi. The map will help

monitor and visualise timely health information in the community. The project

was carried out by a group of Korogocho residents, journalists from Koch FM, and

health workers who mapped out the nine villages within Korogocho in immense

detail.

Click here to view the map in Google Map Maker.

According to the organisers, knowing where people are on a map has an ability to

bring people together, even in the most difficult living conditions. Residents

showed great enthusiasm during community mapping, and partners were impressed at

what the group had done in just three days of mapping. One of the journalists

working on the project also said that besides the excitement of putting his

station on the map, he is now better able to visualise the area where his

station reports from and broadcasts. He said that this will help him network

with community health workers and residents who will contribute in gathering

information for the station. Organisers report that health workers have also

mentioned it will make coordination of their work much easier.

Development Issues

Health

Key Points

The slum of Korogocho in Nairobi, Kenya is one of the largest by population in

Africa with some 200,000 people living in an area no bigger than a few New York

City blocks.

Partners

Internews, Google, HealthMap, Medic Mobile, Radio Koch, and the African

Population and Health Research Centre.

Contact

Ida Jooste

Country Director

Internews - Kenya

13th Floor I & M Building

Kenyatta Avenue

Nairobi

00200

Kenya

Tel: +254 20 2228699

Internews website

ijooste@...

Related Summaries

Koch FM

Source

Internews website and Internews e-newsletter on December 1 2010.

Placed on the Soul Beat Africa site December 09 2010

Last Updated February 20 2011