Allan Musumba, Issabelah Mutuku and Michelle Mbuthia
Background: Podcasts, as a form of new media, have increasingly become a more engaging form of communication on the African continent. Currently there is a call to overhaul the global health system from its current Global North-first approach to one that recognizes all people as equal, with a right to self-determination. In the realm of research, using podcasts as a tool to decolonize global health holds lots of potential in terms of regional research, visibility and uptake. The Decolonizing Global Health Podcast (DGH Podcast) is a communication approach that seeks to spur interest in African research and potentially impact local and regional health policies.
Objectives: Through the DGHPodcast we seek to provide a platform for sharing APHRC research outputs to raise local and regional awareness on the extent to which local research can impact global health. It will also act as an opportunity for capacity-strengthening on broadcast communication for early career researchers/grantees/sub-grantees. The DGH Podcast will strategically position experts at the center as thought-leaders beyond the research/academic community and act as a research vessel to unpack relevant and yet under-researched issues in global health within the African context and, search for multidisciplinary solutions.
Methodology: The podcast will assimilate the Signature Issues Approach by converting scientific data that aligns with local and global development agenda and impacts health and development in Africa into easily ingested and relevant stories. The Podcast would cover issues such as the politics of research funding, helicopter research and how can this be shifted and Anti-blackness in global health
The success of the DGH Podcast will be measured using two major metrics, i.e.;
- Number and growth of listeners (segregated by region) per quarter
- Engagement evaluated on an episode-by-episode basis
Depending on the platform used (Spotify, Soundcloud, Apple podcasts, etc.) platform-specific metrics will be used to estimate the quarterly growth of listenership. A social media analysis will be used for change to contribute to a calculated change index.
Continuous descriptions of listeners’ regional origins and characteristics would be generated using Google Analytics as embedded on the platform. The relevance of discussed topics will be rated on a change-index scale that can provide direction on which topics and discussions warrant further research and funding.
Significance: The DGH Podcast can potentially spotlight African research, especially those initiated and implemented by APHRC.