Radio Learning Program Launched in Liberia with MOH and Partners

Photo credit: Internews

Beginning Saturday, April 2, 2016, Community Health Volunteers (CHVs) across Liberia will be able to tune in to a new radio program designed just for them.

Community Action for a Healthy Life is a radio distance learning program being launched by the Ministry of Health (MOH) in partnership with the Health Communication Capacity Collaborative (HC3) and is made possible by the generous support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Community Action for a Healthy Life will cover topics related to maternal, child and family health. It will also demonstrate skills for talking with families and working with all parts of a community to help people live healthier lives.

The goal of the radio program is to help CHVs gain the knowledge and skills they need to do their jobs of promoting healthy behaviors and increasing demand for health services.

The radio program is both educational and entertaining. It will feature interviews with the program’s regular health expert, quizzes, drama and a skills-based assignment given at the end of each edition. CHVs who complete at least 15 of the assignments by the end of the program will receive a certificate.

The radio program will run for 26 weeks and will be broadcast on national radio stations (ELBC and UNMIL) as well as community radio stations in every county so all CHVs may listen. Supporting materials will help CHV listeners remember what they learned from the program.

In Liberia, HC3 supports the Ministry of Health to implement impactful social and behavior change communication (SBCC) programming to increase demand for health services and promote improved health practices at home.

USAID-funded HC3 is designed to strengthen capacity to implement state-of-the-art SBCC programs. It is based at Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs in collaboration with Management Sciences for Health, NetHope, Population Services International, Ogilvy Public Relations and Internews.