THEATRE FOR DEVELOPMENT AS A TOOL FOR MALARIA EDUCATION IN GHANA
Keywords:
theatre for development, malaria education, GhanaAbstract
Theatre for Development, a very flexible community based methodology which places emphasis on ultimate behavioral change while instilling a high sense of motivation and participation in its educational process, has been employed in Ghana over the years to effect positive change in users. This methodology has been explored by various communities to create a vivid theatre that mirrors social, economic, political and cultural problems with the sole aim of finding solutions to them. These community educative dramas have helped to expose negative behavioral patterns in order to solve these problems in a fresh and stimulating way. Malaria education remains one unending program that uses TFD. Malaria remains a number one killer disease in Africa today and hyper endemic in Ghana. Malaria transmission is constant throughout the year but very prevalent during the rainy season. Much as great successes have been recorded in many sectors about curative measures of curbing the disease, education towards attitudinal and behavioral changes remain a big challenge as far as prevention of the disease is concerned. This paper reveals how TFD has contributed to community education in general and malaria education in particular.
References
Arkhurst S. (1994). “Community Theatre Project: Rethink”, Newsletter of the School of Performing Arts. Department of Theatre Arts: University of Ghana, Legon.
Melville. G. “Why Malaria”, Malaria Watch, NMCP/GHS, Vol. 1 No. 01, Jan. — April 2004.
Mlarna M.P. Culture and Development: The Popular Theatre Approach in Africa, Sweden, Swedish international DevelopmentAthority.1991.
National Malaria Control Program, “Simple fact malaria in Ghana”, NMCP, unpublished material, Accra 2004.
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