Evaluation of the Obulamu? integrated health communication campaign in Uganda: results from a repeated cross-sectional household survey
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Date
2021
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Journal of Communication in Healthcare
Abstract
Uganda’s Obulamu? campaign delivered messages relevant to life stage to
address evolving health needs of audiences at times they were likely to change behaviors.
We estimated Obulamu?’s effects on HIV/AIDS, family planning, maternal and child health,
tuberculosis, malaria, and nutrition behavioral outcomes.
Methods: We conducted repeated cross-sectional household surveys with women, men, and
children’s caregivers in 2015 and 2017 in 16 districts using multi-stage probability sampling
weighted by population. Eleven pre-specified outcomes were evaluated in multivariable
weighted regression models.
Results: Survey 1 included 2,377 households with 4,012 individuals and survey 2 included
2,398 households with 3,563 individuals. After controlling for time and potentially
confounding factors, we observed notable increases among people exposed to topicspecific
messages in condom use with at least one non-marital, non-cohabiting partner in
the last six months; recent male circumcision; seeking tuberculosis screening/testing for self;
seeking tuberculosis screening/testing for child; delivery of baby in a facility; and caregiver
seeking advice or treatment for child under five years with fever. Exposure did not appear
to influence knowledge of antiretroviral therapy, delay sexual debut, breastfeeding infants
and all of the household’s pregnant women/children less than five years sleeping under a
net the night before the survey.
Conclusion: Exposure to topic-specific messages was associated with improvements in six of
the eleven outcomes. Across the health priority areas, we observed improvements in select
HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and maternal and child health outcomes. We did not observe effects
of exposure on select outcomes in the areas of family planning, malaria, or nutrition.
Description
Keywords
Uganda, Cross-sectional studies, Surveys and questionnaires, Health communication, Life stage, Life cycle, Health communication campaign, Evaluation, Integrated intervention
Citation
Holly M. Burke, Eunice Okumu, Amos Zikusooka, Richard Batamwita, Judith Nalukwago, Samuel Field, Alissa Bernholc, Andres Martinez, Leonard Bufumbo, Musa Kimbowa, Sheila M. Coutinho, Natasha Mack & Jane Alaii (2021) Evaluation of the Obulamu? integrated health communication campaign in Uganda: results from a repeated crosssectional household survey, Journal of Communication in Healthcare, 14:2, 126-138, DOI: 10.1080/17538068.2020.1860670