Illustrating Birth: The Creation of an Illustrated Resource Manual for the Health Extension Workers in the Oromia Region of Southwestern Ethiopia

Abstract

This paper will provide justification for the creation of my thesis project: the creation of a childbirth and family planning resource for the Health Extension Workers of the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Building on knowledge of visual literacy studies, health education trends and my own interviews with Health Extension Workers in the Oromia Region, it is my suggestion that focusing on the education of community based health workers, by providing them with custom designed health education materials, is a legitimate and cost effective strategy for improving health worker performance, increasing populace utilization of health system services and better educating the populace at large. Illustrated health education materials can improve retention of key health message in semi-literate communities and illustrated reference materials can be valuable to community health workers who may have little formal training. Such materials are an essential input into the work of Health Extension Workers (HEWs) in Ethiopia—a new category of health workers that has recently been introduced by the government to provide health education and preventative care in rural populations. We carried out a preliminary survey of 60 HEWs in Jimma region in southwestern Ethiopia to investigate the appropriateness of illustrated health messages in materials commonly available to the workers. We found that HEWs had difficulty understanding locally available illustrated health messages and using them in their health education work because these materials were not relevant to regional health, language and culture. Within the Ethiopian framework, the Health Extension Worker and her community will additionally benefit from a childbirth and family planning resource manual for reasons relating both to country health indicators, and national political frameworks. There is an inherent need to design an educational material not simply produce it, especially with respect to a highly technical manual on childbirth. The design strategy employed with this project utilizes the assumption that a useful language will provide HEWs with a relevant verbal context for understanding included visual aids. Because they are literate, HEWs are likely to be able to understand a more technical manual, especially if it is illustrated.