Promoting food and nutrition literacy using multi-media education-entertainment More than 70% of South African women and 39% of men are either overweight or obese, according to the latest national survey conducted by Statistics South Africa. Most live in disadvantaged communities, especially in periurban townships characterised by economic constraints, where a lack of information about food and nutrition lives alongside an obesogenic food environment that makes it difficult to make healthier food decisions. The South African government has outlined strategies for the control and the prevention of obesity and its consequences, considered non-communicable diseases (NCD). The strategies focus largely on health promotion, encouraging the curbing of behavioural lifestyles such as smoking and binge drinking plus promoting interventions to reduce body size like making better food choices and engaging in physical activity. Health workers who operate in low- to middle-income communities are not immune to obesity and the associated NCDs, and tend to lack information about food and nutrition. It is particularly important that community health workers (CHWs) are well-informed, as they serve as liaisons between health services and the community and, as such, can engage in health promotion activities, providing community nutrition education, social support and healthy food advocacy.
Multi-media entertainment-education tools Substantiated international evidence suggests that various forms of media are important modalities for promoting health, especially messages to prevent and manage obesity. These range from formal media (like television and magazines) to social media (such as WhatsApp and FaceBook). Using media creatively can reinforce new and old health messages, support health changes, encourage maintenance of change, and keep health issues on the public agenda. Growing evidence also suggests that to reach very large audiences effectively, health messages need to be entertaining. This project therefore sought to develop entertaining healthy food and nutrition messages through using short stories in the form of comic booklets and videos. These would be disseminated through different media, especially SMS messages and WhatsApp both of which are accessible to the majority of CHWs who operate in disadvantaged communities.
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