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For World Malaria Day 2021, we spoke to Phaik Yeong Cheah (University of Oxford, UK) about her research focussed on drama and arts-based community engagement for malaria research, published with our partner platform, Wellcome Open Research.

I am an Associate Professor at the University of Oxford, and the Head of Bioethics & Engagement, Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit. I lead a team that organises and facilitates ethics and public/community engagement work across the MORU Tropical Health Network, which has research in Southeast Asia, South Asia and Africa.

Find out more with Phaik Yeong Cheah’s full profile >>

I conduct research on bioethics and community/public engagement, and also lead and facilitate many engagement projects. The ethics and engagement work helps ensure that health research is ethical, relevant and responsive to the communities we serve.

What inspired you and your team to investigate drama and arts-based engagement for communicating malaria research?

“Just like treatment for malaria should be evidence-based, engagement and communication strategies around malaria should be evidence-based too.”

Phaik Yeong Cheah

Our malaria research project was based in remote villages in rural Cambodia. We needed to find innovative ways to engage communities where the literacy rates were low. That was how the Village Drama Against Malaria (VDAM) project was born. The VDAM project ran in Cambodian villages from 2016–2019 in collaboration with the Provincial Health Departments, the Cambodian National Malaria Control Programme, a professional Cambodian drama group (Ponleu Silpeak), village malaria workers (VMWs) and local schools. The project ran alongside our malaria research and other traditional engagement activities in the Battambang (2016), Pailin (2017) and Stung Treng (2018 and 2019) provinces.

The project combined traditional Cambodian drama, art, music workshops, singing competitions and malaria quizzes. A series of workshops were organised by our researchers, engagement teams and the Provincial Health Departments to train the drama team on the malaria messages to incorporate into the drama performance and other activities.

What challenges have you had to overcome in conducting your research?

It was challenging conducting research and engagement in remote villages where facilities were basic.

What impact do you feel your research has had or could have on the overall goal of achieving malaria elimination in Cambodia as well as other countries?

We ran the project in 55 villages to more than 40,000 audience members from 2016–2019. The VDAM project has provided malaria messages to tens of thousands of remote villagers. Children who participated in singing, dancing or in the drama had learnt a lot about malaria. Audience members could recall the plot of the comedy sketch – two men went to into the forest, one slept under a bednet, one did not. Interviews with villagers showed that the VDAM project promoted awareness and understanding of malaria prevention and the importance of early treatment. Interviewees commended the project, as it involved audiences directly and wrapped health messages into a format accessible to communities with lower literacy rates. Some interviewees indicated that they had changed their behaviour and even advised their family members. “I told my family that they should sleep in a bednet and when they chat or drink beer, they should wear sleeved clothes.” (drama performer, Stungtreng).

Some said that they understood our malaria research better and would be more willing to participate in those studies. The local malaria stories gathered informed current and future malaria research. The project has also given village malaria workers (VMW), partners in the project, increased visibility in communities, because they were partners in it. This is important because malaria elimination efforts are underpinned by a robust VMW network, where VMWs provide early, free diagnosis and treatment.

You can watch a video from the VDAM project, here >>

VDAM won the University of Oxford Vice-Chancellor’s Public Engagement with Research Award and the Vice-Chancellor’s Choice Award for Public Engagement with Research 2019.

What is the next step for your research? What are you interested in exploring next?

Through the VDAM project, we experienced working with young people and found it rewarding. We would like to involve young people to co-design research and engagement strategies in the future.

What role does open research have in advancing research in this area?

It is important to report and describe our engagement activities in detail in reports or publication to share widely. These reports should ideally include monitoring and evaluation data.

Read the full Research Article via Wellcome Open Research, ‘Theory of change: Drama and arts-based community engagement for malaria research and elimination in Cambodia’ >>