HEPI-THET PROJECT

UHABARISHAJI WA MATOKEO YA UTAFITI KWA LUGHA YA KISWAHILI

PROJECT PROFILE

WHO: Academic Institutions (Community Health Department-CUHAS and Mwanza College of Health and Allied Sciences) and local community organization (Tanzania Rural Health Movement) work on common goal of promoting dissemination of health research findings to urban-rural communities in the simplified language through friendly communication methods.

WHAT: Working to eliminate huge barrier in dissemination of medical researches among lay communities residing in urban-rural areas through proper research communication methods.

HOW: To develop audio/article-based platform where health researchers from different health disciplines can share their research findings to the community in simplified language (Swahili) during an informational discussion panel/interview with ultimate goal of fostering behavior changes in the community through correct and researched information.

WHY: In developing countries, community access to evidence-based health information is difficult since most research findings are written in scientific jargon and published in scientific journals. Thus, insufficient health knowledge in communities can result in limited understanding of disease knowledge and risk as well as accelerating infodemics among the urban-rural communities.

WHERE: The project focus to promote research communication to lay communities through dissemination of research findings to the urban-rural communities in key health messages in simplified language (Swahili) through facilitating the interdisciplinary link between health researchers and community members in an informative and community-oriented media forum as well as to empower communities to learn appropriate health information as provided in the discussion/interview panels as part of research communication initiatives.