Public Health: How is it? How public health interventions can occur? What is needed?
Public health messaging is one of the greatest ways to subtly get diverse health information across to a wide range of audiences.
What I have found here is that public health messaging exists for sure, but in my opinion, it is lacking in its full capacity.
Cape Town, being a hub and melting pot of diverse African cultures, needs public health messaging that can relate to all people that fall within the immense income inequality divide. This means that messaging needs to be simplistic, yet informative. Eye grabbing, yet straight forward, but it is not that prevalent.
It was extremely shocking to me about public health in Cape Town as it is such a simple way to get information across, but none the less it is not everywhere where it should be. It should be way more prevalent. South Africa is suffering from one of the worst TB/HIV/AIDS epidemics in the world. In 2006 the South African Department of Health estimated that 29.1% of pregnant women were living with HIV In America you see these types of messaging largely on public transportation. These are astounding numbers, but in Cape Town, the access to information is not at a grand scale. The information that is out there seems to be localized to specific health issues as well. Specifically by this I mean HIV/AIDS, Rape and Assault are the most prevalent information I was viewing. BUT one has to actively search for this information and at times it seemed to be localized in spaces where there is more wealth, income, racial status and education. There needs to be more public health messaging in more low income ares, like the townships, from what I observed through my own research. The first time I walked through Langa, I recall seeing a sign about who to call if you want to get an abortion. The flyer simply has a number to call and an address to go to, but no specific information on what it meant to have an abortion, or a women's right to her own body. This absolutely blew my mind.
Another interesting thought I have was the relationship of public health messaging in a transportation space. Because there are numerous safety precautions about using the public transportation system in Cape Town, there is less of an audience to place this type of messaging in this space. The messaging that I have seen has been on street corners, bus stops and, in my experience, predominantly around the University. In America, a lot of public health is implemented through transportation sights whether that be buses, planes or trains.
On the University of Cape Town's campus you cannot move an inch without seeing a sign about rape prevention or assault training. This is absolutely wonderful, but it is localized to this educational community. There needs to be more messaging over larger spaces around the city because Cape Town is truly so spread out and pocketed.
What is needed is grand access. So many feelings right now.
