“Radio program hosts are the heroes of vaccination for us, because they are the voice of our community and transmit messages about polio in a language that is ours,” says Bonero Shando, a 55-year-old woman who lives with her three children in Matola, a poor and immense neighborhood on the outskirts of Maputo, the capital of Mozambique.
Shando thus describes the tireless work of people like Pedro Serafim, known as DJ Nherere, a popular presenter of Rádio Comunitária de Xinavane, one of the main community broadcasters in the capital. DJ Nherere is one of the voices working tirelessly to convey essential messages about polio to thousands of listeners across Mozambique, especially in rural areas where broadband internet access is limited or non-existent.
In total, around 300 community radio hosts across the country keep an eye out for rumors about possible polio epidemics, report on its symptoms and encourage people to get vaccinated not just against this disease, but against “all diseases, such as hepatitis, human papillomavirus (HPV) or measles,” says Antoni Jara, director of community radio station Acordos de Paz Nhamatanda.
And they do it, in many cases, because the disease has marked their lives. This is the case of Stella Wabeni, a trainee presenter at a community radio station in Sofala, the vast central province of Mozambique. One of his brothers contracted polio, which severely affected his back. “Being a community radio host and advising mothers every month to bring their child to the clinic to be vaccinated against polio fills me with pride,” she says on the radio. local Nhamatanda Peace Accords.
Furthermore, these platforms can also quickly adapt and serve as a communication network against future rapidly spreading infectious diseases. “I am prepared like a soldier to defend proven health data. If a new virus were to appear in Mozambique, I will be able to quickly transition from using my polio communicator skills to addressing new public health threats,” says DJ Nherere proudly, noting that these broadcasters, known as the polio vaccine “brigade,” “always rely on the latest medical data and cite Mozambique’s Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO) as sources reference.”
Fight polio from the airwaves
Mozambique recorded its last case of wild polio in 1992. Since then, the country has faced epidemics of the disease, such as the one that occurred in 2022, but this does not affect the certification of Africa as free of indigenous wild poliovirus, granted by the WHO in August 2020. This is because the strain that caused the epidemic came from Pakistan, one of only two countries, along with Afghanistan, where polio is endemic.
Behind the eradication of the disease in the country is the work of the Mozambique government, which, after the civil war, between 1977 and 1992, resumed vaccination campaigns and took advantage of the peace to collaborate with United Nations agencies and other multilateral donors with the aim of ensuring community surveillance, timely notifications and alerts, the exchange of laboratory virological samples and the rapid distribution of vaccines.
Being a community radio host and advising mothers every month to bring their child to the clinic to be vaccinated against polio fills me with pride.
Stella Wabeni, trainee presenter at a community radio station in Sofala
At this point, the disc jockey of community radio. “I consider it a vocation,” says Monseca Sithole, DJ Monsecahost of Radio Manica, a regional broadcaster owned by the state network Radio Moçambique, which broadcasts in the central-western province near the border with Zimbabwe. His job is to announce news affecting local communities – weddings, birthdays, fire dangers – play music on daytime and nighttime programs and talk to listeners. “I am also happy to have the task of reminding you of the latest news on the polio vaccine, denying rumors without scientific basis and clarifying the infection data”, he assures.
Sulaimi Pinto, a retired official from Mozambique’s Ministry of Health, led the initiative to turn community radio hosts into “communication agents” about polio and its vaccine. In coordination with the National Institute of Communications of Mozambique (INCM), in 2005 it began training speakers from the Matola slum neighborhood in Maputo, informing them about the scientific aspects of the disease and vaccination, so that they could spread appropriate messages to their large audience.
“Some of the announcers surprised us at first,” Pinto recalls. They too were very misinformed about the clinical nature of polio and mistakenly believed that the vaccine was the cause of the disease. It was a real eye-opener: “We quickly realized that if we didn’t educate them about the basic clinical aspects of polio, they could spread harmful, misinformation about the vaccine and scare people into going to the clinic,” she explains.
“Misinformation kills,” underlines Dr. Rassul Bernardo, who practices in private practice and is also the supervisor of training in health communication in public hospitals in the city of Manica. “Thanks to the efforts of radio hosts, we can filter out all kinds of unpleasant rumors circulating in communities, nonsense like that polio vaccination is a Western plan to sterilize African men and things like that. Radio hosts are our local ears, doing amazing work and enriching public health,” he adds.
Radio hosts produce monthly reports that they send to community health clinicians, so public health officials can monitor the latest trends and identify what types of health misinformation are circulating.
Thanks to the efforts of radio hosts, we can filter out all kinds of unpleasant rumors circulating in communities, nonsense such as that polio vaccination is a Western plan to sterilize African men.
Rassul Bernardo, doctor
Trust and native languages
Unlike commercial stations, which are often private, community radio stations in Mozambique are not inundated with corporate advertising, prioritize the native languages of each geographic area they serve, and do not require expensive electricity or broadband for data like smartphones. Community radio hosts get right to the “heart of the matter” and reach every corner of the country, from the flashy residential homes of the capital to the most remote and war-torn areas, such as the province of Cabo Delgado in the far north.
“It’s a question of language and sensitivity,” says Estha Dube, 33, mother of a two-year-old child, who lives in Mafuse, a village in Manica province. The woman can’t read or write Portuguese, the language of business in Mozambique, but she has a friend who is the radio, which she listens to on a small stereo with rechargeable batteries.
Dube thanks the hosts of Radio Manica for ensuring the safety of his children from polio. It was the voice of one of these announcers, DJ Monseca, that convinced him to vaccinate his son against this disease. “DJs talk about this very complex vaccine our mother tongue, edand this is to be appreciated; They explain the dangers and facts about polio in our language. “This gives us a lot of peace of mind,” he says. He also believes it would be good if these radio programs could include testimonies from families who have suffered from the disease.
Furthermore, she explains that, although the numbers are low, in rural areas of Mozambique some tribal leaders stubbornly continue to spread deliberately false and unscientific messages about the polio virus and endanger collective health. “Let’s focus on the facts, to bring more mothers and children to clinics,” he asks.
