Under the Green Umbrella: Using Television Drama to Promote Integrated Health Services and Providers in Bangladesh

With less that 40% of the population in Bangladesh having access to basic health and 75% of pregnant women not receiving antenatal care previous to this intervention, improvements in family health were well needed. "Shabuj Shathi" (The Green Friend), a 13-episode entertainment-education (EE) television serial drama produced by the Bangladesh Center for Communication Programs (BCCP), was part of the "Green Umbrella Logo Campaign" that aimed to address this issue. The serial weaved in health topics with a compelling storyline to yield popular, educational drama.

"Shabuj Shathi" was quantitatively evaluated as part of the 1998 National Media Survey, conducted in May, 1998.
The survey included a representative sample of 10,400 mena and women from 15-49 years of age. Evaluation results showed that the drama resulted in a significant increase in audience awareness and changing attitudes toward the main health topics featured in the drama: family planning, safe motherhood, childhood diseases and immunisation, HIV infections, and nutrition. The drama was also successful in its main goal of improving the attitude of rural communities towards health workers.

52.8 percent of married women who watched "Shabuj Shathi" use modern contracptives, whereas only 38.4 percent of married women who did not watch "Shabuj Shathi" use them.