Global Health Film Festival: media, impact, and social change

Abstract

Telling the stories of people through film, television, radio, and other media is important for witnessing the realities of individuals' lives in different settings and for promoting social change. Media campaigns can play a part in stimulating behaviour change and improving the uptake of health interventions, although measuring the effect of such campaigns remains a challenge. Interesting work is currently underway by researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) on a media campaign in sub-Saharan Africa that aims to help prevent and treat malaria, diarrhoea, and pneumonia in children, as well as encourage women to attend health facilities for childbirth. Meanwhile in Burkina Faso, Development Media International are undertaking a trial on the effect of mass media campaigns on child mortality. Although radio is widely available in rural areas in low-income settings, film is becoming increasingly popular in urban environments, and has a role in entertainment, news, and health communication. The ability to reach individuals directly through film has never been so promising, especially with increasing use of smartphones. The potential of film as a catalyst to inspire change is the motivation behind the Global Health Film initiative (GHFi), a partnership between the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM), LSHTM, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This initiative will host the first Global Health Film Festival on Oct 30–31, 2015, at the RSM in London, UK, which will bring together film-makers, journalists, and health advocates with the aim of starting a new conversation around the potential of film and media for global health. Film screenings, workshops, and discussion panels will feature at the festival, and be streamed live to satellite screenings in the USA, Uganda, and South Africa. Launching at the festival will be The Lancet Development Award for Best Global Health Film, alongside other prizes to support promising film-makers. As part of this project, GHFi also began to host the Global Health Film Lab earlier this month; nine Global Health Film Fellows have been selected for intensive film training to work together in production teams to create short films for submission to the festival. Communication inequalities are of concern to global health, and participatory media will have a strong presence at the Global Health Film Festival. Participatory media is a way of making documentaries that allows individuals to use smartphones or cameras to facilitate dialogue and capture their own narrative. This approach can be empowering. Film-maker Millie Harvey and physician Elizabeth Anderson are working in Malawi on a documentary film, In Our Hands (video), about the roll-out of a large HIV self-testing trial. The film, which will screen at the festival, was created through a partnership between a local community in Blantyre, Malawi, WHO, the Malawi–Liverpool Wellcome Trust, and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. The project aims to connect local communities and organisations with new developments in health research, and work with film to engage the public and disseminate new findings in community screenings. In Our Hands explores the effect of the self-diagnosis of HIV on individuals and the wider community in Blantyre in real time. By offering a voice to those who wish to share their experiences, film can harness the power of the personal stories behind global health data. At the festival, special screenings on polio eradication in Pakistan, social inequality, hidden sugars in supermarket foods, the Ebola response, and healthy ageing will be curated alongside workshops on media and global health. Submissions and delegate registration for the 2015 Global Health Film Festival are open and we welcome short films, feature length films, and proposals for workshops or satellite screening sites. The power of film for social change deserves to be integrated into the global health community. Global Health Film Festival For more information on submitting documentaries or attending the 2015 Global Health Film Festival see http://www.globalhealthfilm.orgJRF and GM are co-founders and LB is coordinator of the Global Health Film initiative. Global Health Film Festival For more information on submitting documentaries or attending the 2015 Global Health Film Festival see http://www.globalhealthfilm.org JRF and GM are co-founders and LB is coordinator of the Global Health Film initiative. eyJraWQiOiI4ZjUxYWNhY2IzYjhiNjNlNzFlYmIzYWFmYTU5NmZmYyIsImFsZyI6IlJTMjU2In0.eyJzdWIiOiI1YThlYTRiYWQ4MDYxYmFmOTI1MjQxNWJhZjliMmE4NiIsImtpZCI6IjhmNTFhY2FjYjNiOGI2M2U3MWViYjNhYWZhNTk2ZmZjIiwiZXhwIjoxNjc3OTk1NTM2fQ.Jf_f3CsX7Ds9Gk58DMw_DUApS5i8FSQUwvlZU2at4RSM2I8py25dsdEwknAzK-2WwebnjvWGt93Xl_Vi3a2-jX4QJpzCgW31wrBUUON08XRKERpNPxmozpRg4epM4JUaEthjxdXHnaD1MYf5F2Mv-AoKUSiYqMAzoDbmfTkE5jVdWCC-Z85ZXrFZ84lMdPVRWe6f_6caQd0Yq4W4cPH9hMH0n8OBFwWj44W27gFOTtPR5QDOr7A2_CYoktfCmu9Xvn_15yQzyN74oPkVg7zNo3Cr0TrqPjejtFkGgXqSYRHdT-q0dP_mEbhPuaBP3gwro9VKLr9Z13zZhtzq0QRJYQ Download .mp4 (46.01 MB) Help with .mp4 files Supplementary videoTrailer for In Our Hands, a documentary film by Millie Harvey about HIV self-testing in Blantyre, Malawi.