Media Million Lives Project

According to DMI, there is strong evidence that radio and television campaigns alone can convince families to adopt behaviours that will save children’s lives. DMI worked with epidemiologists at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine to develop a mathematical model that predicts and measures how many lives can be saved by mass media campaigns. It predicts that a multi-issue campaign in a typical sub-Saharan African country will reduce child deaths by 16-23%, neonatal deaths by 5-21%, and maternal deaths by 2-20%, and that running campaigns in ten African countries for five years each will save a million lives.

To achieve this, an approach was adopted called Saturation+, covering the three essential components for success:

• Saturation: broadcasting at very high intensity, on popular stations, in local languages.
• Science: designs that are informed by mathematical modelling to maximise our health impact, and robust impact measurement.
• Stories: a creative process that is informed by research and that employs the best local and global talent to develop entertaining, persuasive, culturally targeted content.

According to DMI, their evidence base suggests a strong correlation between message frequency and impact. They broadcast radio and TV spots at least three times per day. This is particularly important when the audience is not consuming media throughout the day at regular times. They also broadcast daily dramas, as well as using "concept placement" to insert key health messages into existing, popular radio and TV programmes.

Information about the campaign and progress is being shared through the Media Million Lives website.

Maternal health, Child Health

In 2011, one in nine children in sub-Saharan Africa died before their fifth birthday. Almost two-thirds of these deaths could be avoided by increasing coverage of simple, existing and affordable health interventions, such as exclusive breastfeeding and hand washing. However, coverage rates for these interventions in sub-Saharan Africa remain low. Many children die simply because their parents do not take these simple steps. According to DMI, radio and TV campaigns that encourage healthy behaviours in mothers and children can reduce the number of child deaths by up to 23%.