title: Can mass media interventions reduce child mortality?
abstract: Many people recognise that mass media is important in promoting public health but there have been few attempts to measure how important. An ongoing trial in Burkina Faso (ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01517230) is an attempt to bring together the very different worlds of mass media and epidemiology: to measure rigorously, using a cluster-randomised design, how many lives mass media can save in a low-income country, and at what cost. Application of the Lives Saved Tool predicts that saturation-based media campaigns could reduce child mortality by 10-20%, at a cost per disability-adjusted life-year that is as low as any existing health intervention. In this Viewpoint we explain the scientific reasoning behind the trial, while stressing the importance of the media methodology used.
authors: Development Media International, London, UK. Electronic address: roy@developmentmedia.net.
authors: Roy
authors: R
authors: Head
authors: Development Media International, London, UK.
authors: Joanna
authors: J
authors: Murray
authors: Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
authors: Sophie
authors: S
authors: Sarrassat
authors: Development Media International, London, UK.
authors: Will
authors: W
authors: Snell
authors: Centre Muraz, Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.
authors: Nicolas
authors: N
authors: Meda
authors: Centre Muraz, Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.
authors: Moctar
authors: M
authors: Ouedraogo
authors: Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
authors: Laurent
authors: L
authors: Deboise
authors: Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
authors: Simon
authors: S
authors: Cousens
mesh_terms: D002050:Burkina Faso; D002648:Child; D046688:Child Mortality; D003906:Developing Countries; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008402:Mass Media; D019057:Quality-Adjusted Life Years; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Q000379:methods