“Happy Healthy Muppets”: A Look at Sesame Workshop’s Health Initiatives Around the World

Abstract

Through their comedic antics, Sesame Street’s Muppets have been educating and entertaining young children for nearly 40 years. The characters model ways of living and encourage audiences to learn skills that research has shown make a lasting difference in young children’s lives. The discussion that follows describes the nonprofit organization behind Sesame Street – Sesame Workshop – and the range of projects we have undertaken that are devoted to health education. Using a flexible production methodology that has been applied in countries throughout the globe, Sesame Workshop responds to an ever-changing array of needs in a culturally-relevant fashion that directly speaks to the children (and in some cases, adults) in specific target audiences. This paper aims to inform readers about the design and execution of the Sesame Workshop’s international health projects, in the hope that the information may benefit other nongovernmental and community-based organizations engaged in similar media enterprises.