1. Fundraising proposal for a radio campaign in Guinea, Mali and Niger
Saving 15,500 children’s lives for $870 each
Based on a successful randomised controlled trial in Burkina Faso

2. Fundraising proposal for a radio campaign in Guinea, Mali and Niger
Saving 15,500 children’s lives for $870 each
Based on a successful randomised controlled trial in Burkina Faso

3. THE PROBLEM: CHILD DEATHS IN WEST AFRICA
In 2015, 600,000 children under five in West and Central Africa died from pneumonia, malaria or diarrhoea. These diseases can be treated with simple, available interventions (antibiotics, antimalarials and oral rehydration salts).
However, two-thirds of West African children with symptoms of these diseases are not even taken to a health facility for treatment by their parents. Investments in the supply-side (health facilities, staff and medications) have not been matched by demand-side investments in knowledge and behaviours. Consequently, many parents do not recognize the symptoms or the severity of these diseases, and do not seek treatment.

4. A SOLUTION: HOW RADIO CAN SAVE LIVES
Intervention zones
Control zones
Mass media campaigns are potentially a powerful and cost-effective tool for changing health behaviours at scale. However, until now, there has been limited evidence that they actually work.
To solve this, DMI and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine ran a three-year, $12m randomised controlled trial in Burkina Faso to test the impact of a radio campaign promoting family behaviours to reduce under-five mortality. We compared behaviours before and after the campaign in seven intervention zones, where we broadcast daily adverts and dramas on local radio stations (blue), and in seven control zones (red).
BURKINA FASO
WEST AFRICA

5. OUR APPROACH: MAXIMISING IMPACT
To ensure that media campaigns have the desired impact on behaviours (and therefore on the number of lives saved), we have developed a methodology for designing, running and evaluating those campaigns:
Saturation+
Saturation
Science
Stories
We believe that all three elements are necessary for ensuring that media campaigns are effective (and, ultimately, cost-effective, even if it means that they are more expensive in the immediate sense).
Saturation+
Saturation
Broadcast spots 8+ times per day on radio and 3+ times per day on television
Broadcast in languages that 75%+ of the target audience can understand well
Broadcast on stations viewed or heard at least weekly by 75%+ of the media audience
Science
Use mathematical modelling to estimate the impact of each message
Allocate airtime to each message based primarily on predicted impact
Measure and attribute impact using robust evaluations
Stories
Integrate formative research findings into the creative writing process
Ensure emotional climax of dramas reflects key barriers to behaviour change
Test all materials before and after broadcast to check message clarity and impact

6. OUR PROPOSAL: SCALING UP IN WEST AFRICA
We now plan to scale up our child survival work in West Africa. To begin with, we are raising funds for three-year radio campaigns in Guinea, Mali and Niger. Our fundraising target is $13.5m (which will save 15,500 children’s lives for $870 each).
Our mathematical model (based on our Burkina Faso RCT results and the Lives Saved Tool) predicts that three-year treatment-seeking media campaigns focused on pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria in eight West African countries will save 67,000 children's lives, at a cost of $48m. This is equivalent to $715 per life saved, or $24 per disability-adjusted life year (DALY) added, making radio one of the most cost-effective ways of reducing under-five mortality.
Country
Lives saved
Cost per life saved
Cost per DALY
Benin
4,611
$846
$28.19
Cameroon
5,873
$919
$30.65
Chad
2,959
$1,521
$50.69
Côte d'Ivoire
4,447
$1,349
$44.97
Guinea
3,364
$1,338
$44.59
Mali
6,582
$684
$22.79
Niger
5,608
$802
$26.75
Nigeria
34,111
$440
$14.66
TOTAL
67,556
$715
$23.83

7. ABOUT DEVELOPMENT MEDIA INTERNATIONAL
Development Media International (DMI) runs radio, television and mobile campaigns to change behaviours and improve lives in developing countries.
We build the evidence base for media behaviour change campaigns. We have run a ground-breaking randomised controlled trial of a child survival radio campaign. Where robust evidence of impact already exists, we run media campaigns that reach millions of people.
We are recommended on the basis of our health impact, evidence base and cost-effectiveness by GiveWell.

8. FUNDERS AND PARTNERS OF DMI CAMPAIGNS

9. CONTACT US TO FIND OUT MORE