TV has been an amazing thing for the world. I personally love entertaining shows like “Breaking Bad” and news programmes like “60 Minutes.” But TV also gets a bad rap from many (and with good reason) for its regular portrayal of sex, drugs, crime and general overindulgence. The universal truth about TV is that it reaches many, many people in both good and bad ways.
It has been a while now since I have made Zambia my home. While I am primarily based in the capital city Lusaka, I have had the chance to visit some other areas of the country, as well as some clinics at densely-populated settlements called “compounds” around Lusaka. What I observed in both of these settings – urban slums and rural villages – was that many households had TV satellite dishes outside. That was very surprising to me. I knew that almost everyone has a mobile phone these days, but somehow I still thought that TV was a luxury. I myself never had cable or satellite TV growing up, and certainly could not afford it as a student.
When I got to Zambia I also learned that the country has one of the highest rates of cervical cancer in the world. I work with the Cervical Cancer Prevention Programme in Zambia (CCPPZ), a programme under the Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ). A question that the treatment support specialists (also known as “peer educators”) always ask clients when they come for cervical cancer screenings is what the source of information that stimulated them to come was. Many respondents have mentioned that they heard about it on TV. Last fall, Zambia’s First Lady, her Excellency Dr. Christine Kaseba-Sata, had campaigned for women’s health awareness in various areas of the country, and that is how many of the women we see in our clinic say they received their information. TV as a communication outlet here in Zambia has generated an overwhelmingly positive response. It has brought the issue of cervical cancer to the forefront of many women’s minds in Zambia.
I strongly believe that Dr. Kaseba-Sata’s media campaign for cervical cancer awareness is just one of many examples of how powerful the media can be in public health, both locally and globally. Clearly, the First Lady knows this and has utilized this vehicle for communication to a very broad audience. While it is undeniable that the media can hinder public health initiatives, I believe that it can also be harnessed in a positive way, such as in the case of the First Lady’s cervical cancer prevention campaign. We need more international public health professionals like her, who have a combination of expertise (she is an obstetrician/gynecologist by training), passion, and charisma that can drive these important causes. When used that way, TV does great things.