“The hosts of radio programs are for us the heroes of the , because they are the voice of our community and transmit messages about the 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 district 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 on Rádio Comunitária de Xinavane, one of the main community stations in the capital. DJ Nherere is one of the voices working tirelessly to broadcast essential polio messages to thousands of listeners across Mozambique, especially in rural areas where broadband internet access is limited or non-existent.
In total, some 300 community radio hosts throughout the country keep an eye on rumors about polio, report on its symptoms and encourage people to get vaccinated not only against this disease, but against “all diseases, such as hepatitis or measles,” says Antoni Jara, director of the community radio station Acordos de Paz Nhamatanda.
And they do so, 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 her brothers contracted polio, which seriously affected his back. “Being a community radio host and every month advising mothers to take their baby to the clinic to be vaccinated against polio fills me with pride,” she says, from Acordos de Paz Nhamatanda radio.
Furthermore, these platforms can also adapt quickly and serve as a communication network against future fast-spreading infectious diseases. “I am prepared like a soldier to defend proven health data. If a new virus appears in Mozambique, I will be able to quickly transition from using my skills as a polio communicator to confronting new threats to public health,” says DJ Nherere proudly, highlighting that these broadcasters, known as the polio vaccine ‘brigade’, “always rely on the latest medical data and cite the Mozambique Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO) as sources of reference.”
Fight polio from the airwaves
Mozambique registered. Since then, the country has faced outbreaks of this disease, but this fact does not affect, granted by the WHO in August 2020. This is because the strain that caused the outbreak 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 Government of Mozambique, which, after, resumed vaccination campaigns and took advantage of the peace to partner with United Nations agencies and other multilateral donors with the aim of ensuring community surveillance, early notifications and alerts, the exchange of virological laboratory samples and the rapid distribution of vaccines.
Being a community radio host and every month advising mothers to take their baby 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 jockeys of community radio. “I consider it a vocation,” says Monseca Sithole, host of Radio Manica, a regional station 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 late-night programs, and talk to listeners. “I am also delighted to be in charge of reminding you of the latest news about the polio vaccine, denying rumors without a scientific basis and clarifying the infection figures,” 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 of scientific aspects of the disease and vaccination, so that they could disseminate appropriate messages to their wide audience.
“At first, some of the announcers surprised us,” Pinto recalls. They, too, were very misinformed about the clinical nature of polio and had the mistaken belief 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 wrong and harmful information about the vaccine and make people afraid to go to the clinic,” he explains.
“”, underlines Dr. Rassul Bernardo, who has a private practice and is also a health communication training supervisor in the public hospitals of the city of Manica. “Thanks to the efforts of radio hosts, we can filter out all kinds of unpleasant rumors that circulate 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, they do a tremendous job and enrich public health,” he adds.
Radio hosts produce monthly reports that they send to community health doctors, so that public health officials can monitor the latest trends and detect what types of health misinformation is circulating.
Thanks to the efforts of radio hosts, we can filter out all kinds of unpleasant rumors that circulate in communities, nonsense like 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 announcers get straight to the “crux of the matter” and reach every corner of the country, from the ostentatious residential houses of the capital to the most remote and war-torn areas, such as 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 the province of Manica. The woman does not know how to 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 device with rechargeable batteries.
Dube thanks the Radio Manica hosts for ensuring the safety of his babies from polio. It was precisely the voice of one of these announcers, DJ Monseca, that convinced him to vaccinate his son against this disease. “The DJs talk about this very complex vaccine in , and that is appreciated; they explain the dangers and data related to polio in our language. That gives us a lot of peace of mind,” he says. He also believes that it would be positive if these radio programs could include the testimonies of families who have suffered from the disease.
Furthermore, the woman explains that, although the numbers are low, in rural areas of Mozambique some tribal chiefs stubbornly continue to spread deliberately false and unscientific messages about the polio virus and endanger collective health. “Let’s focus on the facts, on bringing more mothers and babies to the clinics,” he asks.
