TV channel promotes better health
Mahlatsi Mgidi
13 September 2004
Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang on Friday launched a health television channel in Phomolong in Soweto.
Called the Mindset Health, the channel is a partnership involving the Department of Health, Sentech and Mindset Network and aims to provide health education programmes to be broadcast via satellite directly to waiting rooms and staff rooms of 56 clinics countrywide.
Mindset Network is a non-profit organisation aimed at the personal, social and economic upliftment of all South Africans through better education, while Sentech provides telecommunication services.
"This health network will be critical in supporting the training of health care workers and educating communities about the key health issues facing citizens of our country," said Tshabalala-Msimang.
The Minister said the use of technology bridged the gap between highly specialised services in urban areas and the poorly resourced health services in rural
areas.
"The channel promises to provide a way of sharing skills and cutting through problems caused by geographic isolation, scarcity of doctors, skilled nurses and poor transport and infrastructure," she said.
Mindset Health will also provide both the health care worker and the patient with the latest information on prevention, care and management of common illnesses and major diseases, including HIV and AIDS.
It has two channels targeted at healthcare workers and the patients respectively in five different languages: seSotho, isiZulu, isiXhosa, English and Afrikaans.
Programming, which is stored as data for simulated broadcasting, runs from 7.30am to 5.30pm on weekdays and includes drama, documentaries, interviews and public announcements relating to health issues.
Mindset Network chief executive Ann Lamont said clinics which already broadcast the channel had reported a positive feedback from both patients and staff.
"At one of our pilot
sites, patients have shown an increased willingness to go for counselling and then be tested for HIV. This is the kind of response we are aiming for on a mass scale to address the key disease affecting us all, " Lamont said.
The health channel reaches over 185 000 viewers daily who visit clinics and other state health sites, and broadcasts programming from suppliers of educational materials as well as from people's real life experiences.
Sentech provides the broadcast infrastructure including satellite dishes, decoders and data storage.
Other partners in the project are Liberty Life, Standard Bank, Telkom, and the United States Agency for International Development.
Source: BuaNews
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