Media and healthcare promotion campaign strategies: Re-examining the key communication factors

Health information education and communication (IEC) has evolved as the key strategy of the new primary healthcare paradigm, which focuses on health promotion and disease prevention (HPDP) through active community participation. As a key component of the HPDP strategies, effective health communication goes beyond disseminating health messages, to emphasise initiating and sustaining fundamental changes at individual and societal levels for inducing desired health behaviour. As such, the role of the health communication agent is not just to transmit information and knowledge, rather to act as a change agent to facilitate behavior change. This study reveals that an effective health communication strategy must target at the strong linkages between health behaviour and the deep-rooted socio-cultural values of the community. The media mix for health communication must be based on the particular situational factors including the appropriate level of intervention. In addition, the campaign messages must be in synchronicity with the socio-cultural values of the target audience.