Johns Hopkins Health and Education in South Africa (JHHESA) uses a strategic communication approach that combines facts, creative ideas, and theories to respond to health related issues.
JHHESA’s conceptual framework is based on the Social Ecology Model that recognises that the needs of individuals cannot be addressed in isolation of the contextual factors that may influence their decision making. Contextual factors influencing individual and social change include:
- social networks (comprising partners, families and friends),
- communities (including community, traditional and spiritual leaders) and
- the broader political and societal environment (in which decisions are made around policy and services).
A strategic communication approach uses the synergy of both mass media and interpersonal communication approaches that seek to create awareness and to stimulate social change through influencing the different levels within the Social Ecology Model depending on the objective of the intervention and the intended audience. Change in one level is likely to result in change across all levels.
