How effective are radio programs in dissemination of health messages to the rural masses?

An 18-episode radio program was broadcasted in 2004 by Government of Madhya Pradesh to disseminate health messages to the community. The program was evaluated for its outreach and level of retention of the key messages by the listeners. In the households with radio sets only 49% listened to radio programs regularly. Among them 34% had listened to at least one episode of the program under study. The retention rate of key messages by the program listeners was found to be around 30 per cent only. Barriers to use of radio for mass communication of health messages have been discussed.