Vodafone Ghana is sponsoring a newly launched broadcast radio show called Healthline Radio.  The show will focus on “demystifying popular myths that inform health behaviors” according to the Ghana News Agency. Members of the public can get in touch with the show, which launched on November 16, via phone-ins, SMS and Facebook. The host of the show is joined by medical professionals whose role is to debunk popular health myths.  Among the issues likely to be raised are the dangers of self-medication which is common in Ghana because of limited access to healthcare. The country also suffers from a relatively low doctor-to-patient ratio, a statistic that encouraged the creation of MDNet, a service that offers free calls to doctors in which Vodafone is also involved.

The new show is airing for one hour per week in local language Akan as well as English.  The initial run is for 13 weeks but Vodafone says it wants to repeat the exercise annually. It follows the operator’s sponsorship of a TV programme also called Healthline earlier this year that looked at similar issues. Among the issues that aired on the TV show were hepatitis, HIV/AIDS, pregnancy, cancer, heart conditions, sexual health, sickle cell and infectious diseases.