Communication on Road Safety in Cameroon: Representation in the Press and Government Strategy

Road safety is a major concern in Cameroon, due to the multiplicity of road accidents resulting in the loss of human lives and the deterioration of road infrastructures. In 2019, the year marking the end of the United Nations decade of actions for road safety, the number of deaths on Cameroonian roads was 937. In this article, we have selected to examine the theme of road safety in the Cameroonian press and to look at awareness-raising strategies on the same subject. Our objective is to highlight the importance of communication in solving road safety problems. We therefore asked ourselves the following questions: How is the topic of road safety dealt with in the media? In combination with awareness campaigns, are the representations conveyed through the press sufficient to contribute to a change in road users behaviour? The option of studying both the representations of road safety that we have chosen has enabled us to show how the co-production of this public problem can be explained through the interrelations between the media and institutional fields. We initially postulated that communication achieves its objective in road safety campaigns when it integrates mixed strategies including campaigns aimed at road users, information for the general public through the press and social marketing campaigns aimed at changing behaviour. After a content analysis of articles published on road safety in three newspapers and an analysis of the messages disseminated in the posters and flyers produced during awareness campaigns, we found that awareness-raising through the media is not enough on its own. We therefore conclude that it is important to combine marketing techniques, citizen education and awareness raising aimed at changing user behaviour in road safety communication strategies. The target strategy is also important because each road safety message is addressed to a specific target group that plays a specific role

Implementing the communication for development strategy to improve knowledge and coverage of measles vaccination in western Chinese immunization programs:a before-and-after evaluation

Background:Communication for Development(C4D)is a strategy promoted by the United Nations Children’s Fund to foster positive and measurable changes at the individual,family,community,social,and policy levels of society.In western China,C4D activities have previously been conducted as part of province-level immunization programs.In this study,we evaluated the association of C4D with changes in parental knowledge of immunization services,measles disease,and measles vaccine,and changes in their children’s measles vaccine coverage.Methods:From April 2013 to April 2014,C4D activities were implemented as part of provincial immunization programs in the Inner Mongolia,Guangxi,Chongqing,Guizhou,Tibet,Shaanxi,Gansu,Ningxia,and Qinghai provinces.We used a before-and-after study design and employed face-to-face interviews to assess changes in parental knowledge and vaccination coverage.Results:We surveyed 2107 households at baseline and 2070 households after 1 year of C4D activities.Following C4D,95%of caregivers were aware of the vaccination record check requirement for entry into kindergarten and primary school;80%of caregivers were aware that migrant children were eligible for free vaccination;more than 70%of caregivers knew that measles is a respiratory infectious disease;and 90%of caregivers knew the symptoms of measles.Caregivers’willingness to take their children to the clinic for vaccination increased from 51.3%at baseline to 67.4%in the post-C4D survey.Coverage of one-dose measles-containing vaccine(MCV)increased from 83.8%at baseline to 90.1%after C4D.One-dose MCV coverage was greater than 95%in the Guangxi,Shaanxi,and Gansu provinces.Two-dose MCV coverage increased from 68.5 to 77.6%.House-to-house communication was the most popular C4D activity among caregivers(91.6%favoring),followed by posters and educational talks(64.8 and 49.9%favoring).Conclusions:C4D is associated with increased caregiver knowledge about measles,increased willingness to seek immunization services for their children,and increased measles vaccination coverage.Tailored communication strategies based on insights gained from these analyses may be able to increase vaccination coverage in hard-to-reach areas.C4D should be considered for larger scale implementation in China.

A Study on the Cultivation of Students'Intercultural Communicative Competence in College English Teaching

With the further deepening of international cooperation and exchanges, the social demand for talents with interculturalcommunicative competence will be increasing. At present, the cultural competence of college students is far from meeting theneeds of intercultural communication. It is increasingly urgent to strengthen cultural teaching to improve the awareness and abilityof intercultural communication of College students. Teaching English should not only teach students to master the basic abilities ofEnglish listening, speaking, reading and writing, but also pay attention to the cultivation of students' intercultural communicativecompetence in order to improve college students' comprehensive English ability. This paper takes the approach of interculturalcommunication ability as the starting point, and explores the ways to cultivate students' intercultural communicative competence incollege English teaching.

THE LEARNER-CENTERED APPROACH——AN EFFECTIVE WAY TO DEVELOP STUDENTS'COMMUNICATIVE ABILITY

This paper will first focus on a brief evaluation ofthe teacher-centered and the learner-centered method-ologies.Then,it presents the practical ways of teach-ing based on the learner-centered approach in class-rooms to show how students’initiative is given fullplay.Finally,it presents the guidance from fellowstudents and teachers in group activitis.The purposeof the learner-centered approach is to develop students’communicative

From Paper to Internet:Academic Libraries in Transition

This paper examines the current trends, challenges, and issues facing all libraries, and discusses the strategies that academic libraries, in particular, are taking to transform their services, manage their organizations, and preserve their digital assets. It demonstrates how a network of distributed services, resource sharing, co-investment, and access integration contributes to sustainable library development.