EA - Empowering Numbers: FEM since 2021 by hhart

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Empowering Numbers: FEM since 2021, published by hhart on August 23, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum.∼250,000 new contraceptive users, ∼20 million new listeners and up to ∼60x cost effectivenessTL;DR:In 2021, FEM launched our pilot: a 3-month family planning radio campaign, educating listeners about maternal health and effective contraception. Our ads and shows played up to 860 times in Kano state in northern Nigeria, reaching ~5.6 million. An independent survey showed that in 11 months, contraceptive use increased by ~75% among all women in the state. Since then, we launched a 9-month campaign, aired proofs of concept in three new locations and re-aired in 8 more states, reaching an estimated 20 million new listeners. We were recommended by Giving What We Can and Founders Pledge, who assess our campaigns as ~22 times as effective as cash transfers. We developed new technologies that will allow us to customise health advice to listeners and run a randomised controlled trial. We continue to build organisational capacity to scale across Nigeria and new cause areas in the years ahead.Studio host during show recording in KanoPromising results from our pilot (Oct - Dec 2021)In Nigeria, 1 in 22 women dies of pregnancy-related complications.In 2020, this meant ~1,047 mothers died for every 100,000 births. For contrast, in the United Kingdom, there were 9.8 maternal deaths per 100,000 births.Across Nigeria, about half of women have an unmet need for effective contraception. Increasing access to contraception reduces unwanted pregnancies and increases space between births, making pregnancies much safer. It can save the lives of thousands of women and save others from devastating health conditions such as obstetric fistula, and postpartum anaemia and depression. When women and girls understand and access family planning services, they receive substantial positive effects: get more education, make more money, and enjoy the ability to take better care of their children.Launched in September 2020, Family Empowerment Media develops evidenced-based radio campaigns to improve maternal and child health by raising awareness about contraception. In our Proof of Concept phase, we chose Kano, partnered with a Nigerian organisation, and conducted a short radio campaign.In September 2021, on World Contraception Day, we launched a pilot campaign in collaboration with the Nigerian Ministry of Health. We produced radio programmes, including dramas, storytelling shows, Q&A programmes with health experts, and interviews with prominent religious leaders on the topic of childbirth spacing.Our programmes reached a total of 5.6 million listeners up to 860 times and it looks like they had a substantial impact.Data from pre-post survey by PMA, intervention period is indicated by the shaded area. Over 11 months, we saw an increase from 10% to 19% among married women and from 8% to 14% among all women.An external survey on contraceptive use in Kano saw a 75% increase (among all women) between February 2021 and January 2022, corresponding to approximately 250,000 new contraceptive users. This is twice as many new users as over the last 5 years combined.A similar trend was not seen in Lagos or other Nigerian states, suggesting the change was specific to Kano. We were the only new large scale family planning demand generation activity in the state at that time. We are working with researchers to better understand how much impact can be attributed to FEM' campaigns. But these results are promising.New technology to evaluate our impact (Jan -Dec 2022)FEM is committed to collecting robust, scientific data about the effects of our work. With funding from Grand Challenges Canada (Stars in Global Health), FEM developed a new technology to evaluate our impact: a transmitter that identifies w...