Community involvement in social marketing: guineaworm control

Social marketing as a health education strategy has the potential for encouraging the adoption of new health technologies. The focus on the individual, though, holds the risk of victim blaming. This can be overcome if the consumers/community are involved in the four major components of the marketing strategy-product design, price, distribution and promotion. The community of Idere, Nigeria, has recently been involved in marketing a monofilament nylon cloth filter to prevent the water-borne helminthic disease, guineaworm. Local tailors produced the filters. Volunteer primary health workers debated pricing, sold the product and educated each consumer. Coverage in those neighborhoods and farm settlements where primary health workers were resident was nearly double that of other sections showing the value of local action to market health changes.