APPROACH

HealtH CommuniCation and BeHavior CHange

At URC and CHS, we use health communication and behavior change

approaches to enable individuals, families, communities and societies to increase control over and improve their health.

Our approaches recognize that human behavior

is complex and results from a combination

of context-specific influences, including

environmental factors, social norms, the quality

of health services and individual knowledge.

For this reason, we apply systematic,

continuous processes shaped by socio-

ecological theory, evidence and feedback to

develop and monitor multi-level, multi-media

health communication and behavior change

interventions linked to overall project goals.

URC’s social and behavior change communication

(SBCC) projects use the approaches described in

this brief to foster better health outcomes in the

communities where we work.

advocacy for HealthURC’s health advocacy work cultivates leaders’

commitments to policies and programs that

support health and promote changes in social

conditions that contribute to disease and

vulnerability. Our SBCC strategies have been

adopted as official policy by governments in

countries in every corner of the globe, including

Cambodia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Haiti, Iraq,

Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Malawi

and Mozambique—a testament to the strength

of our technical assistance and the passion our

advocates bring to their work.

edu-entertainmentBased on the traditions and popular culture

where we work, URC’s edu-entertainment

projects engage audiences through theater,

puppetry, music, dance, pageants and festivals

while transmitting important messages and

encouraging dialogue and interaction. In the

Philippines, URC supported the Department

of Health to reach 47,000 people in poor,

underserved areas with key family health

messages through community theater. In Benin,

URC uses community radio, theater and music

to reduce maternal and infant mortality and the

incidence of malaria and HIV, and to build skills

for engaging the health system. In Ghana, we

use community theater to motivate villagers to

practice malaria-reducing behaviors.

eHealth and mHealtheHealth and mHealth strategies range from

health data collection and storage to interactive

web and mobile applications for health.

Photo: An employee of the MDS Company in Veal Veng, Cambodia receives a long-lasting insecticidal

net through a partnership between the company and URC’s CAP-Malaria Project, in 2014.

about urC: University Research Co.,

LLC, is a global company dedicated to

improving the quality of health care,

social services, and health education

worldwide. With our non-profit affiliate,

the Center for Human Services (CHS),

URC manages projects in over 45

countries, including the United States.

5404 Wisconsin Ave., Suite 800

Chevy Chase, Maryland 20815-4811 USA

301-654-8338

www.urc-chs.com

Improving systems. Empowering communities.

OCTOBER 2014

These techniques leverage growing access to

information communication technologies (ICT)

to improve decision-making and performance

by providers and clients and to facilitate

communication in remote, hard-to-reach

places and areas where transportation and

infrastructure are less developed. In Uganda

URC introduced mHealth technologies into

existing health processes to strengthen

supervision, communication and feedback

among village health teams, their supervisors

and the health facilities. In the United States,

URC helped develop the iPad application

Me, You, and Wally Bear: Building Blocks for

a Healthy Future, which facilitates positive

interactions between children ages three- to

six-years old and their parents/caregivers. Also

in the US, CHS helped tackle binge drinking

at McDaniel College by including its campus

in the virtual world of Second Life, providing

an interactive platform for alcohol awareness

education. In Guatemala, URC sent health

workers in clinics text messages on their mobile

phones to remind them of the principles of

quality health care.

individuals to make positive changes in health

care seeking and behaviors, and create

demand for health services. Interpersonal

communication from trusted sources, such

as health providers, faith-based organizations

and community outreach workers, influences

attitudes, improves knowledge and helps

individuals build skills to sustain positive health

behaviors. In Cambodia, Thailand and Burma

(Myanmar), URC trained bus and taxi drivers to

provide passengers with malaria information.

The project reached both residents and

migrant workers, who tend to be highly

vulnerable to malaria and lack access to local

health services.

mass mediaMass media, such as radio, TV, billboards, and

newspapers, complement other media to raise

awareness and increase knowledge of health

concerns, stimulate audiences to seek services,

and promote social norms that favor healthy

practices. URC’s South Africa TB Program

uses TV, radio, sports events, print materials,

community mobilization, advocacy and health

worker training to address the many influences

on people’s risk of TB transmission. In Ghana,

URC trained print and broadcast journalists on

malaria reporting, resulting in numerous articles

in national daily papers, and music icon Nana

Boro signed on as the campaign’s ambassador,

lending his musical talent to the message. In the

United States, URC designed a public service

announcement encouraging parents to talk

to their children to prevent underage drinking.

The PSA aired on the CBS Super Screen in New

York City’s Times Square and garnered over 17

million estimated impressions.

Social and Community mobilizationOur social and community mobilization

strategies engage civil society and

communities to promote social norms

that support collective health objectives

and challenge harmful practices. In Benin,

partnerships with journalists, community

radio and local theaters generated powerful

communication strategies for local

communities. URC engaged community

leaders to deliver health-related messages

and provided the training and support so they

could develop the messages themselves,

building a strong cadre of professionals

capable of addressing future health and

development issues through various media.

WHat’S in a name?

Health communication. IEC. BCC. SBCC. These terms refer to a set of overlapping

strategies that emphasize improving health and social outcomes by shifting

individual and community social norms while strengthening systems and building

country capacity.

For our international projects, we use the term “social and behavior change

communication” (SBCC). SBCC comprises information, education and communication

(IEC) and behavior change communication (BCC), among other approaches.

We often use the term “health communication” in our projects focused on

communities in the United States.

No matter which term we use, our activities stimulate and sustain evidence-based

individual and social changes that contribute to better health outcomes.

Our SBCC strategies have

been adopted as official

policy by governments in

countries in every corner

of the globe, a testament

to the strength of our

technical assistance and

the passion our advocates

bring to their work.

information, education and CommunicationInformation, education and communication

(IEC) approaches rely on job aids and

other materials to improve health worker

performance, remind caregivers how to

carry out health care behaviors, encourage