Kabale is seated at Moyale Hospitals OPD patient waiting area. She came to the hospital because her 9 year old son has a chronic health condition he has follow up for. Mondays are usually very busy at the hospital. And since there is a long queue, it will be a while before her son gets to be evaluated by the Doctor. In the meantime however, she is passing the time by watching a health education video that is playing on the TV in the waiting area. Titled “Seena Gaara Kaasa”, the video is a 3 minute animated clip on Acute Watery diarrhoea (AWD). Kabale seems to be very interested in the video. She is surprised to learn how quickly AWD can spread in a community. She is also very intrigued by the fact that ORS solutions can be made at home with locally available products. Kabale’s experience is part of Moyale Hospitals’ innovative approach to Health Education. Noticing the fact that health education sessions were not being delivered as planned, and aiming for a more stimulating and immersive way of delivering the sessions, the Quality Committee at the hospital decided to undertake a unique project. Sessions are now delivered thru videos translated in the local language (Oromiffa.) The first video (and by far the most popular), was developed in partnership with Global Health Media Inc., a non-profit organization providing health education video’s on topics relevant to developing countries. GHM facilitated the process by providing the script and syncing the new oromiffa translation to the video. Mohammed Dida (currently Environmental Health Officer) and Dr Ahmed Ibrahim (Chief Clinical Officer) worked together to translate and record the script. In less than 2 weeks, the collaboration between Moyale Hospital and GHM led to the first animated health education video in Oromiffa. “The response we got the first day the video aired was very positive”, stated Dr Ahmed Ibrahim, Chief Clinical Officer (CCO) at Moyale Hospital. “Since then, what once was a dull and at times tension filled wait for the doctor has been transformed into an entertaining and enlightening experience.” he said. Arero Biqicha, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), states that this is part of Moyale Hospitals’ greater plan in incorporating innovation and technology to deliver quality health care. “No other hospital in the country has a similar project so this is something we are very proud of”, he said. Since then, many more videos on a range of topics (from family planning, labour and delivery, hypertension and diabetes) have been translated at the hospital. The project now boasts over 120 minutes plus of locally translated video’s, with an equal amount of entertainment interspersed in-between.
Plans are already underway to create an incentivised scheme to increase the number of translators among staff. In additions, the project will not only translate but produce local videos on relevant health topics in the near future. It is now Kabale’s turn to see the Doctor. During her wait, she has learned not only about AWD but on how oral contraceptive pills work, the complications for hypertension, and the cause and treatment for mental illnesses. A Charlie Chaplin video clip had her son laughing uncontrollably at one point as well. She now leaves the waiting area empowered with this new found knowledge. Comments are closed.
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August 2017
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