public radio international company reviews

Local emergency management authorities (LEMA), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), United Nations (UN) agencies, and the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement are examples of stakeholders that have been involved in providing humanitarian radio in emergencies during the last several decades. In this paper, ‘humanitarian radio’ will be used, meaning a specific radio station that broadcasts disaster-related information, specifically aiming to promote recovery among the listeners by either temporary technical solutions or ordinary means. There are many terms to describe the use of radio in humanitarian contexts, including ‘disaster radio’, ‘emergency radio’, ‘beneficiary radio’, ‘radio in a suitcase’, and ‘radio in a box’.

From a historical perspective, public radio has been used worldwide as a communication method in emergencies and disaster situations, mainly for communication on disaster preparedness, risk awareness or risk reduction. Establishing communication and access to reliable information can facilitate health recovery and reduce mortality after disasters. Access to reliable information in a language that is easily understood and culturally appropriate is part of the Core Humanitarian Standard. Today, crisis communication is considered to be an integrated part of disaster health response. Therefore, health effects after natural disasters must be considered as physical, psychological and social.

Disturbances in social relations, economic consequences and temporary or definitive displacements also cause distress in disaster-affected populations. The mental health effects of disasters include a range of problems, some of which are psychopathologic. Damage to infrastructure and medical facilities is typical after some types of natural disasters and can impair the ability to manage both acute and chronic health conditions. Natural disasters usually cause physical injuries and associated complications and worsen chronic conditions. These disasters mostly occurred in Asia in the form of storms or floods, but they also affected other parts of the world as earthquakes, storms and wildfires, which collectively caused deaths, injuries and human desolation. In 2017, 335 natural disasters affected over 95.6 million people. As such, health professionals crises communication professionals, including radio journalists and disaster-managing stakeholders should be prepared and trained to use humanitarian radio as an integrated part of the disaster health response in natural disasters. Radio could, therefore, contribute to health recovery and wellbeing from both individual and community perspectives.

Radio also has the potential to cost-effectively reach a large number of affected people in areas with severely damaged infrastructure. Community resilience can be enhanced by the promotion of community engagement and can strengthen self-efficacy and community efficacy. The results show that humanitarian radio could be used to promote both physical and psychosocial wellbeing by providing health-related information, advice and psychosocial support in natural disasters. A literature review of 13 scientific papers and grey literature resources was conducted. Therefore, this study aimed to provide an overview of the use and impact of humanitarian radio in natural disasters from a health perspective. However, the effects have barely been evaluated, and there are few scientific reports on the impact of radio as a disaster health response intervention. Humanitarian radio has been used in humanitarian aid efforts and after natural disasters over the last 15 years.

Public radio international company reviews