Evolution And History

308 CHAPTER 13 | Human Adaptation to a Changing World

Globalscape

From Soap Opera to Clinic?

When Hajara Nasiru in Angwan Lauran

Wali, Nigeria, listened to the radio

soap opera Gugar Goge (Tell It to Me

Straight), she learned something that

changed her life. Created in Nigeria

using a methodology developed origi-

nally in Mexico, the radio drama tells

the story of 12-year-old Kande who is

forced to marry a man more than twice

her age. She soon becomes pregnant.

After a prolonged labor, her baby dies,

and Kande develops an obstetric fis-

tula (a hole between either the rectum

and vagina or the bladder and vagina)

leading to incontinence, infection, and

nerve damage. Kande’s husband aban-

dons her, but a neighbor brings her to

the hospital in the nearby city of Zaira.

After the fistula is repaired, Kande is

able to return to her father’s home in

full health.

Like Kande, Hajara married young

(at 15), and by the age of 25 she

had experienced eight labors, lost

five children, and developed a fistula

with her last labor. After living with

the debilitating discomfort for nine

weeks, she invited her husband to

listen to the soap opera too. Gugar

Goge gave Hajara and her husband

the information they needed. From

the show, they learned that the fistula

could be repaired and that Hajara

need not suffer.

This radio drama is one of many

created by the local branches of the

Population Media Center (PMC), a

U.S.-based international nongovern-

mental organization, headquartered

in Shelburne, Vermont, that uses

“entertainment-education for social

change.” PMC’s methodology was

developed by Mexican television pro-

ducer Miguel Sabido, pictured above,

whose telenovelas created dramatic

social change across Mexico dur-

ing the 1970s. For example, one

program resulted in an eightfold

increase in adult education and an-

other led to a 50 percent increase in

contraceptive use.

Population Media Center is bring-

ing the Sabido methodology to the

world, through work with local radio

and television broadcasters, appropri-

ate government ministries, and non-

governmental organizations. Their goal

is to design and implement a compre-

hensive media strategy for addressing

family and reproductive health issues.

This collaborative process takes place

locally with local constituents, identi-

fying and addressing various health is-

sues. These issues, once transformed

into a radio drama such as Gugar

Goge, are performed by professional

local radio actors.

In addition to the individual suc-

cess stories like Hajara’s, success

can be measured quantitatively at

the country-wide level. For example,

radio programs broadcast in Ethiopia

in two different languages between

2002 and 2004 changed the repro-

ductive health behavior in that region.

The percentage of married women

using contraception increased from

23 percent to 79 percent, and the

birth rates for Ethiopia decreased by

one whole child. Reduction in fertility

is a vital part of the transition each

society must make to achieve better

overall health. In exit interviews at

family planning clinics, a fourth of the

14,000 people surveyed cited the ra-

dio drama as their reason for coming.

Global Twister Would the Sabido

method work in your community? Is it

already at work? What health issues

would you like to see embedded in

soap operas?

FPO

AFRICA

NIGERIA

ETHIOPIA

AUSTRALIA

ANTARCTICA

EUROPE

SOUTH

AMERICA

NORTH

AMERICA

BRAZIL

Atlantic

Ocean

Pacific

Ocean

Pacific

Ocean

Indian

Ocean

Arctic

Ocean

ASIA

Shelburne, Vermont

Mexico City, Mexico

Angwan Lauran Wali

© Population Media Center, http://www.populationmedia.org © Population Media Center, http://www.populationmedia.org

10843_13_p298-321.indd 30810843_13_p298-321.indd 308 1/20/10 1:21:39 AM1/20/10 1:21:39 AM