Ma Ma Oo: Maternal and Child Health Radio Series Myanmar

The media plays an important role in providing information to citizens, celebrating culture, being a platform for government-citizen engagement and as a mechanism to support community mobilisation, voice discussion and transparency. This is especially critical in a society undergoing change and reform as it becomes increasingly accessible and responsive to its citizens.

Objective

Through a series of training workshops, the ABC worked to strengthen the Myanmar Radio and Television (MRTV) media skills’ capacity, and also supported the production of educational content on key health development issues facing young people.

This content focused on young women–mothers and the next generation of mothers. This was achieved by focusing the training around health issues and including health professionals and organizations as stakeholders to support the radio series.

Timeline

Approximately January–June 2014.

Approach

Burnet facilitated access to health professionals relating to key health issues affecting mothers and young women. Burnet led research relevant to the establishment and evaluation of the radio program. Both organisations had a strong commitment to aligning with the health, education and information policies of the relevant government Ministry.

The eight part pilot radio program sought to;

• increase women’s knowledge regarding maternal health
• increase care seeking for maternal health
• strengthen community knowledge and attitudes on maternal health issues
• provide greater visibility of Mother Support Group services and information within the community through their involvement in the radio programming
• increase the capacity of MRTV radio content makers to produce effective community development messaging.