Using Marketing to Promote Health Literacy in IndiaDec 2012

Mumbai

What is health literacy?Three stages of interaction with healthcare

Stage 1

DormantDefined as:When a non-medical person has no health problem

Therefore, no real interaction

What does he/she need to know?How much health literacy is ‘enough’?

Health is a uniquely ‘all or nothing’ topic In the absence of a problem, health it is taken for granted

Most healthy people have little or no interest in the subject

When there is a problem, health can be interesting to the point of obsession

Dormant – (continued)

In a world where there are few general practitioners, and the almost no “family doctor”, What is the health literacy goal for a non-medical,

healthy person?

The ability to: Recognise a situation that needs medical care? Some basic first aid knowledge? “Know where” – where to seek help, who to turn to?

The role of marketing in this situation…

Dormant – (continued)

Keeping a general level of information flowing through a range of media – TV, print, radio, internet. E.g.: magazine articles, email rounds

How much is too much? What is the basic amount needed?

Key question – who will pay for these messages to be sent out? E.g.: Organisations to employees

Reality check – how do we reach the same messages out to rural, illiterate and poor audiences?

Stage 2

PreparatoryDefined as:When a person has a health problem and needs to consult a doctor

What does he/she need to know?

Know-where A general practitioner? If so, who? A specialist? If so, what kind of specialist? Where do I find a reliable and capable doctor? What will all this cost me?

Preparatory – (continued)

This is critically important information for a person in need A huge existing lacuna today

Marketing says: The right product at the right price, positioned to grab

the attention of the right person at the right place and time.

Product: An information directory that can link the symptom to the

specialist, with contact details

Preparatory – (continued)

Price A difficult question Invaluable when needed; dust collector otherwise

Can there be a “Just dial” for medical services How does one monetise something like this?

Place The internet - an enormous opportunity to reach the online

community Search engines could enable a hit by symptoms, specialisation,

etc. Question: What about the huge population that is not online?

The potential offered by mobile telephones needs to be explored. (Financial services in Kenya)

Stage 3

OperationalDefined as:When a patient and a doctor come together for a problemHealth literacy should include:

How does a patient explain the problem – clearly, simply. How does a doctor gain the patient’s confidence? How does the doctor explain the treatment – clearly, simply Such that there is zero-error comprehension and compliance

Patient literacy Recognizing the symptoms and being able to describe them Sticking to the point – Resisting the impulse to go on and on!!

Solution: A junior doctor who takes down the details

Operational – (continued)

Gaining patient confidence The equivalent marketing moment is ‘point of sale’ That precious moment when you have consumer’s attention

Opportunity to make a contact and gain confidence. Listen, hear, ask questions, pick up cues, probe for the

unsaid, ask tangential questions that might hold a clue

Explaining the diagnosis and the treatment In simple terms Answering questions Explaining compliance required, its criticality, problems

of incomplete compliance

Operational – (continued)

A junior doctor could come in at this stage

Take over and explain treatment and compliance

Repeat, ensure understanding

Cater to the cultural context and include diet, rest, etc., in addition to

medicine, treatment steps, etc.

Follow through (Cognitive dissonance)

To ensure compliance, to inquire about progress

To give assurance, to remove dissonance

Thank you