Unicef and the Ministry of Health have prepared four spots to raise awareness in the care of newborns and young children with illnesses. The ads, for radio and television, aim at improving the country’s high child mortality rate.
In one, a married couple is in a restaurant, watching a boxing match on TV. Each round shows increasingly serious symptoms of pneumonia. When they recognize their own child has those symptoms, they realize they must take him to the hospital. “Hurry!” the restaurant diners shout. “Take the child to the hospital! Go!”
Meas Bunly, a communication specialist for Unicef, said the ads are meant to inform people about pneumonia and other diseases for newborns and young children, and to encourage parents to take their ill children to the hospital.
“Take them to see the doctor as early as possible,” nurses in the ads advise. “Time is life.”
For expecting mothers like Chev Sokny, 34, the ads are helpful. Some people avoid hospitals and health centers, she said. “They keep and keep the baby that is in danger,” she said. The ads should be shown between 6 pm and 8 pm, when the most people are watching TV, she said.
Kem Gunawath, director-general of National Television of Cambodia, or TVK, said his station is broadcasting the ads, as well as producing shows that run each weekend morning and invite doctors and mothers to discuss child and maternal health.