This is part of our year-long celebration of Global Wire Associates’ 10th Anniversary.
Global Wire Associates started out as a company that helped bloggers around the world to express themselves with impunity. Over time we also started to expand our services to include content solutions for small businesses and nonprofits. With the ever-growing number of both online and offline platforms, content is now king.
“It was an exciting time to do our work with the explosion of social media, email marketing, audio and visual strategy and web development, mixed in with traditional communications methods,” said GWA content strategist Fatima Diop. “What worked to our advantage was that most of the GWA staff came from a content making background such as journalists, writers and graphic designers. We were able to use these skills to provide the best content strategies possible for our clients.”
In 2009 we started working with Frank Sibale, a doctor and HIV/AIDS activist from Tanzania. He runs a small clinic outside Dar es Salaam and he was looking for a new way to communicate with his patients about the disease and how to take better care of themselves. A large percentage of his patients at the time were HIV positive and sometimes accurate information about the disease was not readily available.
“I was especially concerned about my patients not being about to come to the clinic because of distance or money,” said Dr. Sibale. “I needed a way to communicate with them more effectively and timely.”
Dr. Sibale and GWA agreed that it would be necessary to have a content strategy built around old and new media. With the mobile technology explosion on the African continent, texting had already become the primary mode of communication in Sibale’s region. We helped Sibale craft short messages to his patients, such as reminders for when to take medication and other health and nutrition tips, in both English and Swahili. We also created texts for expectant and new mothers on how to take care of themselves and their babies during and after pregnancy. Texts were sent out automatically to patients two or three times a week. Sibale was also able to communicate with patients directly about their own medical records and send prescriptions via text.
For patients that came into the clinic, we also created colorful graphics on cardboards that illustrated basic health knowledge in pictures and were culturally appropriate. Texting and health cards proved to be very effective in reaching Sibale’s patients. Sibale’s still uses these methods today in his clinic.
“Now when we need to explain complex issues about sexual health to our patients, we point to the cards,” Sibale said. “I like that we can use effective text messages to reach them as well. Thanks to the GWA team for getting our HIV/AIDS strategy off the ground.”
Check back here in the next following months for more testimonials from our clients!
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