Efficacy of celebrities as behavioural influence models in the fight against malaria in Tanzania

Since the launch of the “Malaria Haikubaliki” campaign in 2010, little if any attention has been given to assessing the efficacy of celebrity endorsement in achieving the campaign is overarching objectives. The main objective of this study was to assess the component of the campaign that involved the use of celebrities. Using multi-stage cluster sampling, 197 participants were randomly selected in the three regions of Dar es Salaam City; namely Kinondoni, Ilala and Temeke. The findings of this study indicate that a majority of the respondents had positive perceptions and attitudes towards celebrities used in the “Malaria Haikubaliki” campaign and this had positive impact on their adoption of the behaviour in the anti-malaria message.