The purpose of the monthly Spotlight is to showcase health communication materials that have had proven impact.

LOS ANCESTROS NO MUEREN RADIO DRAMA – HONDURAS

“Los ancestros no mueren” (“The ancestors never die”) is a ninety-episode radio drama filled with dialogues in both Garifuna and Spanish language and culturally appropriate stories contributing to build self efficacy especially among the Garifuna youth to battle HIV and AIDS.  The Health Communication Partnership (HCP) – with the Academy for Educational Development (AED) as lead partner in this project – and the Garifuna IEC Committee developed this first Garifuna radio drama and aired the first episode in May 2005 on local radio stations situated close to Garifuna communities in the Departments of Atlantida, Cortes and Colon in Honduras. The radio drama was aired every week day until September 2005 and was re-aired from November 2005 to February 2006. Listen to the first four episodes here:

EVIDENCE OF IMPACT

To assess the reach of the radio drama and obtain preliminary information about the audiences’ opinion of it, a random household rapid-assessment survey was conducted at the end of August 2005 of 329 Garifuna youth aged 14-26 from 7 Garifuna communities in the Departments of Atlantida, Cortes and Colon in Honduras. These communities were purposefully selected to include urban, semi-urban and rural communities and about 50 youth were interviewed per community. 61% of the youth interviewed had heard the radio drama. In addition, 68% of the youth exposed spontaneously mentioned that the radio drama addressed HIV and AIDS.

The report may be read at: http://db.jhuccp.org/mmc/media/Sondeosummaryreport.doc

CREDITS

The Health Communication Partnership (HCP) – with the Academy for Educational Development (AED) as lead partner in this project – and the Garifuna IEC Committee developed the radio drama with technical support from the Honduras Secretaria de Salud and funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development.

RECOMMENDED READING ON WRITING AND PRODUCING RADIO DRAMAS

WRITING AND PRODUCING RADIO DRAMAS by: Esta de Fossard

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The Health Communication Partnership
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/Center for Communication Programs in partnership with
Academy for Educational Development " Save the Children " The International HIV/AIDS Alliance
Tulane University's School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine

Disclaimer: The information provided on this web site is not official U.S. Government information and does not represent the views or positions of the U.S. Agency for International Development or the U.S. Government.