Factors influencing the outcome of health campaigns: a case study in Singapore.

Singapore, located in South-east Asia, enjoys a high standard of health care. However, certain diseases are still of major concern to the health authorities, who feel these could be more easily controlled if the public were more aware of their modes of transmission. A "Combat infectious diseases" campaign was therefore launched to educate the public on food-borne diseases (cholera, enteric fever), malaria, dengue/dengue haemmorrhagic fever, leprosy, tuberculosis, and sexually transmitted diseases (syphilis, gonorrhoea). Educational activities in the form of talks, film shows and exhibitions in schools, community centres and other institutions were carried out over a 15-month period. This paper analyzes some of the factors which affected the results of the campaign, as revealed by a health survey conducted in a selected lower-middle income urban community, where sub-groups of the adult population (aged above 15) were tested to assess their health knowledge. Findings indicate that educational level, age of respondents and language proficiency--four languages are used in Singapore--seem to be the three variables that affect the likelihood of the respondents' receptivity to campaign information.