Dengue Advisory for Radio and Clinic Poster
A health assistant on Betio has written this draft for a dengue campaign: "There is less mosquitoes now because of the cleanup, but dengue is still effecting children. Residents must ensure their water containers are cover, and discard old tyres and tins. If you or your family have fever, go to the clinic immediately and don't take aspirin. Pregnant women should also come for check." The draft will be read on Radio Kiribati at 7 p.m. and printed on a poster for the clinic wall. The supervisor says the radio script must be understood by listeners with primary schooling, while the poster can use slightly more formal wording. There is no doctor on the island after 5 p.m.; the nearest hospital is a 25-minute boat trip away, and the boat does not run at night. The assistant asks you to fix the English and adapt the message for both formats without changing the medical advice.
1. Identify and correct four grammatical errors in the draft. Name the error type and explain each correction.
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"less mosquitoes" → "fewer mosquitoes". Mosquitoes are countable, so standard English uses "fewer", not "less". This matters in a health message because it makes the sentence sound careless.
"effecting children" → "affecting children". "Affect" is the verb meaning to influence; "effect" as a verb means to bring about. The draft needs the verb "affecting".
"are cover" → "are covered". The passive construction needs a past participle: containers are covered by lids. "Cover" is the base form and cannot follow "are" here.
"have fever" → "have a fever". Fever is a countable singular noun in this phrase, so it needs the article. Alternatively, "have a high temperature" is plainer.
A fifth improvement is "come for check" → "come for a check-up", but that is more a usage problem than a basic grammar error. The corrections should be made consistently in both the radio and poster versions so the message does not drift.
2. Rewrite the message for radio in no more than 60 words. Keep the urgency but make the after-hours instruction realistic.
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"Dengue is still a danger. Cover your water containers and throw away old tyres and tins. If you have a fever, go to the clinic before 5 p.m. At night, rest, drink water, and go first thing in the morning. Do not take aspirin. Pregnant women should go for a check-up."
The rewrite uses short sentences and common words for a radio audience. It keeps the key actions - cover, throw away, seek care, avoid aspirin - but changes "immediately" to "before 5 p.m." and adds a night instruction. That is not weakening the advice; it is making it followable. Telling people to go immediately when the clinic is closed and the boat does not run at night could push someone into a risky night crossing or make them feel the advice is impossible, so they do nothing. The poster can say "seek care the same day during clinic hours" and add the clinic opening times.
3. Explain why the word "immediately" is problematic in this setting, and how you would phrase the instruction differently for radio and for the poster.
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"Immediately" assumes a service is open and reachable at any hour. On this island there is no doctor after 5 p.m., the boat does not run at night, and the hospital is 25 minutes away by boat. A listener who hears "go immediately" at 9 p.m. faces three bad choices: wait until morning feeling guilty, try to find a night boat, or ignore the message. The word therefore creates a barrier rather than urgency. For radio, phrase it as: "If you have a fever, go to the clinic before 5 p.m. At night, rest, drink water, and go first thing in the morning. Do not take aspirin." For the poster, use slightly more formal wording: "Seek medical care the same day during clinic hours. If symptoms start at night, rest, drink fluids and attend the clinic when it opens. Do not take aspirin." Both versions keep the same clinical advice, but each fits the time and transport constraints of the audience.