The Drum Beat 254 - Building a Health Communication Peer Review Process

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Health e Communication (HealtheComm) - a new peer review practitioner and policy maker process to support health and development communication - is growing and changing daily!

Many of you have taken the time to visit the site and read and review some of its contents. A number of you have also sent us resources you thought useful to others working in health communication. Congratulations and many thanks to everyone who has already jumped into the process!

This issue of The Drum Beat reviews some of the ratings and comments you have contributed. In many cases these are already painting a picture that will assist you in quickly identifying the resources most useful to your work.

Below are a few of HealtheComm's resources accompanied by the ratings and comments you've given them. Some of these were highlighted in The Drum Beat 249 and some are new. You'll notice that some have not yet been rated by anyone. This is your opportunity to be the first! However, don't neglect the rated ones as the peer review process gets better and stronger as more perspectives are added.

We look forward to your participation and hope you find joining the HealtheComm process allows you to contribute to building an important new resource at the same time as you come across ideas and perspectives that help you do your work today.

[[PLEASE NOTE: This website has since been taken offline, due to lack of funding. We have replaced the Health e Communication links with links located on The CI website, since the Health e Communication links were no longer active.]]

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Health e Communication has been developed by the Health Communication Partnership (HCP) and The Communication Initiative. It is based on the advice and comments of a worldwide group of health communication practitioners who provided essential input during its pilot phase. HCP is supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development, and includes Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/Center for Communication Programs, the Academy for Educational Development, Save the Children, The International HIV/AIDS Alliance and Tulane University's School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

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All ratings below are on a scale from 1 to 4 (e.g., 3.3 out of 4) with 1 as the lowest and 4 as the highest score. N/R means Not Yet Rated.

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CASE STUDIES

Resources in this section include studies or programme experiences that focus on specific health communication initiatives and provide insight into the following questions: what did the initiative do, how did it do it, what were the lessons learned? We include evaluations in this section when they focus on single programmes or initiatives.

1.Balbir Pasha: HIV/AIDS Campaign is the Talk of Mumbai

Overall Rating: 2.5

Would use resource: 2.3

Would recommend to others: 2.6

Usefulness to work: 2.9

Improvement in understanding communication options: 2.6

Potential to impact work: 2.4

Potential to improve work: 2.3

Number of ratings: 7

Selected Comments:

• This was a much discussed work and was actually duplicated in the state of Tamil Nadu. This was widely criticized because it was found by some people to be offensive [South Asia]

2.Turning the Ordinary into the Extraordinary: The Green Pendelu & Maternal Health in Mali

Overall Rating: 2.9

Would use resource: 2.8

Would recommend to others: 3

Usefulness to work: 3.2

Improvement in understanding communication options: 2.8

Potential to impact work: 2.5

Potential to improve work: 2.8

Number of ratings: 6

Selected Comments:

• The Dioro approach will be useful for me as academician and trainer because I can use it with the university students and the trainees to illustrate how indigenous communication works. I can also promote the approach through my consultancies in West Africa. [West Africa]
• Nice example of integration with local cultural communication systems. [East & Southern Africa]

3.Guy to Guy Project: Engaging young men in violence prevention and in sexual and reproductive health

Overall Rating: 3.3

Would use resource: 3.2

Would recommend to others: 3.4

Usefulness to work: 3.4

Improvement in understanding communication options: 3.4

Potential to impact work: 3.2

Potential to improve work: 3.4

Number of ratings: 5

Selected Comments:

• I like the initiative, as a young man who has been in the field of reproductive health, this initiative would broaden my scope and showcase my talent to the broader world of service to humanity. [West Africa]

4. Let's Work Together to Beat Measles: A Report on Australia's Measles Control Campaign

Overall Rating: 3.3

Would use resource: 3

Would recommend to others: 3

Usefulness to work: 4

Improvement in understanding communication options: 3

Potential to impact work: 4

Potential to improve work: 3

Number of ratings: 1

Selected Comments:

• This is a site, I always consult before planning any new programme Communication activity, Thanks. [Middle East & North Africa]

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Top 10's

These lists are interactive. They are created and influenced by the results of the ratings you submit for Case Studies, Planning & Thinking, and Research & Evaluation.

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PLANNING & THINKING

Resources in this section focus on ideas to incorporate into health communication initiatives, models for programme planning, and strategic thinking on health issues with reference to communication.

5. Advocacy in Action: A Toolkit to Support NGOs & CBOs Responding to HIV/AIDS

Overall Rating: 3.3

Would use resource: 3.1

Would recommend to others: 3.1

Usefulness to work: 3.5

Improvement in understanding communication options: 3.4

Potential to impact work: 3.1

Potential to improve work: 3.4

Number of ratings: 9

Selected Comments:

• Excellent as usual for this organisation. The fact that I know the contents does not make it less useful - the fact that I can USE the contents is wonderful. [East & Southern Africa]
• I would like to have information for support of health communication and kits. many persons and individuals are seeking and will to have access in health or have response. Can you become provide, partner in consulting, counsellors and others opportunities Thank you [Middle East & North Africa]

6. State of the Art in Development of Sexual and Reproductive Health Programs

Overall Rating: 3.5

Would use resource: 3

Would recommend to others: 3

Usefulness to work: 4

Improvement in understanding communication options: N/R

Potential to impact work: N/R

Potential to improve work: 4

Number of ratings: 1

Selected Comments:

• Most of the documents I use in my training and daily educational activities at work and as a consultant in evaluations on SRH and HIV/AIDS. I am a trained Sexologist therefore this additional information is very relevant to my work. [East & Southern Africa]

7.Missing the Message? 20 Years of Learning from HIV/AIDS

Overall Rating: 3.3

Would use resource: 3

Would recommend to others: 3

Usefulness to work: 3.5

Improvement in understanding communication options: 3

Potential to impact work: 3.5

Potential to improve work: 3.5

Number of ratings: 2

Comments: None.

8.P-Process: Steps in Strategic Communication

Overall Rating: 3.1

Would use resource: 3

Would recommend to others: 3.2

Usefulness to work: 3.5

Improvement in understanding communication options: 3.2

Potential to impact work: 3

Potential to improve work: 3

Number of ratings: 6

Selected Comments:

• Well refined, concise and very educative resource material. [West Africa]

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Quick Lists

This matrix allows for quick cross referencing between core health and development issues and the resources featured on this site.