RESUMEN
Printed materials meant to convey health messages are apt to make a more striking and lasting impression on their audience if they are well illustrated. But coming up with good illustrations takes time, effort and care. The Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) has found that the best way of ensuring that illustrations will be understood and accepted is to develop them with the help of representatives of the target audience.
PIP: Its experiences in Nigeria and Pakistan have shown the Program the Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) the importance of enlisting the aid of the intended audience when developing illustrated print materials for health education. Good illustrations generally make any print material more interesting, and make it easier for the audience to grasp and remember the message. This is especially true when dealing with an audience of low educational status. Furthermore, illustrations serve as a good medium for addressing culturally sensitive issues. Audience involvement in the form of focus groups and pretesting ensures that the materials is accurate, understandable, and acceptable to the target population. One of PATH's projects in developing illustrated materials took place in Nigeria. The aim was to instruct to population on the dangers associated with harmful traditional practice such as female circumcision, early childhood marriage, and nutritional taboos during pregnancy. This report traces the effort to develop illustrated material specifically dealing with female circumcision, from the initial efforts of to gather information through focus groups, to the 3 pretesting phases (the report includes the initial draft and subsequent revisions). The report also describes a experiences of a project designed to take a contraceptive package insert developed in the United Kingdom and adapt it for use in Pakistan. The material dealt with the use of contraceptive foam, and the challenge was to make it culturally sensitive and easy to understand. These experiences show that audience involvement is useful when creating new materials, adapting existing materials, or evaluating the effectiveness of materials once completed.