Animation In Health Video

Abstract
Health communication has many avatars and has moved past the time when the medical community and the Government were dependent largely on printed fliers, radio announcements and television PSAs to communicate about health risks and the need for healthier lifestyles. Today, diverse media and technological innovations are being adapted for the purpose of reaching out to those who are most vulnerable to health threats. The benefit of using a variety of media is that the health message can be tailor made and delivered in a manner that is most accessible.
There is a huge information divide in the world today. People are either overwhelmed by the amount of information that they have access to or are totally deprived of access to much needed
The foremost being that animated content is a familiar sight to a majority of people. It overcomes multiple barriers like gender, age, culture, language or literacy levels. Features of animation like the use of movements, colors and sound-effects immediately grab the attention of the viewer. These videos appeal to a wide range of people due to the feasibility of easily customizing or generalizing the video. Generalized videos features people of diverse races and nationalities and can be easily dubbed into different languages. On the other hand, certain countries or regions are more prone to a particular health risk and will require customized videos. Animated health videos reduce the cost of customization, as by simply changing the background, costumes, skin color of the characters and using local music and dialects, the video can be made more identifiable for the local viewers. In contrast, a live action health video would need to be reshot in multiple locations with different sets of actors. Animated health videos therefore offer greater production flexibility. The storyline can be scripted in one country, the animated video developed in another, the dialogs recorded in a third and finally the video can be used in a totally different country. People find it easier to relate to animated characters than to live action characters who they feel are just acting out roles. Viewing animated content motivates and
The aim is to understand the various elements and content that makes up an animated health video. The main objectives are to identify the common elements present in animated health videos; to classify the types of health information provided; to measure the amount of health information provided and finally to test if the videos analyzed contains triggers that promote positive health behavior as mentioned in the health belief model. A content analysis of 100 YouTube animated health videos that have a story format was done. Among the selected videos, a variety of health issues were represented. Videos that had a very high viewership count only were