DEE, Francesca Alexis L.

MEDHLTH A51

AB-CAM August 7, 2019

Student no. 11534451

Think Piece #2

Talking about Health in Media

Having sufficient knowledge about the many different illnesses and diseases in

the world that could affect our own bodies is very essential. As human beings, we

must always be aware of the dangers that could threaten our health and wellness

because life is a very important blessing and once it is taken away, it may never be

returned.

The talk that we had in class last meeting was about the television program called

Salamat Dok. Our speakers then were the executive producer himself together with

Ms. Marla who is in charge of the social media aspect of the program. They came to

enlighten the class about how the program works and what they do behind the scenes.

According to them, the am of the show is about letting people -- especially those

within the B,C,D,E classes -- know more about certain medical issues which they may

or may not have experienced and can then prevent it. The show also holds many

medical missions around the city and even outside of Metro Manila in order to help

our destitute countrymen who can not afford to get medical help. They even talked

about once case they had in which a woman was experiencing a bulge in her stomach.

Thankfully, the doctors and other medical experts from Salamat Dok were able to

prevent the situation from worsening and therefore were able to save the life of the

woman.
 In relation to our MEDHLTH class, I think that having this talk is relevant

because as students of media in the Communication Arts Department, we are trained

to exercise our right to express ourselves and disseminate the truth through the means

of media and other forms in order to inform the general public about it. In this class,

we are taught that the topic of health in media is something that we need to focus

more on because presently media is the biggest, fastest, and most efficient way of

spreading information throughout society.

The insights which I was able to gather from the talk is something which I can

relate to the idea that throughout the many phases of life which we are exposed to, we

also get exposed to many sources of information about health matters such as

televison, film, radio, newspapers and magazines (Seale 1). Media presentation of

health matters includes many determining influences such that it is used to influence

the public politically since Clive Seale found that “Routine media coverage of

health-related topics that has often been linked with other moral or political agendas

such as feminist, environmentalist or socialist projects” (Seale 2). This changes the

audience’s relation to media. Despite it, I believe and agree with the aims of the

program Salamat Dok because of their claims that their program only wishes to help

the people alleviate their illnesses. In England during the 17th century, it was believed

that religion, health, and illness were closely related to each other and man religious

metaphors were common in understanding the body (Lupton 58). Many of the writers

represented the body as the temple of the Holy Spirit and thus must always be kept

pure and clean (Lupton 58). During these times, the sinner was described to be a “sick

man” and his sin was described to be “cursed” and therefore needed Christ to “heal”

his soul (Lupton 58). Furthermore, in Deborah Lupton’s book Medicine as Culture,

she mentions Susan Sontag and some of her published works which tackle metaphors
on illness and disease and the use of moral judgments towards them. In her

introduction of her first essay Illness as Metaphor which was published in 1978, it is

found that “it is hardly possible to take up one’s residence in the kingdom of the ill

unprejudiced by the lurid metaphors with which it has been landscaped” (Lupton 58).

I wanted to include these ideas from the readings because I wanted to show that in the

past many believed that one’s health is determined by one’s faith in God and I want to

show that this is not the case anymore and at present people know that diseases are

real and that in the Philippines, we need more media programs like Salamat Doc

which can help the people be more informed about the different illnesses and diseases

out there. Although I know very little about how media programs truly operate in the

real world, I only wish that the producers of these programs can find more ways to

incorporate medical issues. As a student, I often think about the ethical issues implied

in the field of media. How can I contribute with my limited abilities and I think about

my life in the future after I graduate from the university. How can I use what I have

learned in my four years in De La Salle? How can I make use of all the theories,

practices, skills, tricks, and concepts in order to help improve the state of media in our

country? In the greater aspect of things, is there an interface between culture and

scientific communication with respect to health communication management? What

or where is the interface? And in the future when I wish to further my studies on

media, health and life, what theoratical framework is most appropriate to study the

use of digital health communication? And the most important: what strategies would

work irrespective of socio economic differences to empower people to be responsible

for their health?

Works cited:

Lupton, Deborah. Medicine as Culture: Illness, Disease and the Body. Sage

Publications, 2012, pp. 1-78.

Seale, Clive. Media and Health, Sage Publishing, 2003, pp. 1-24.

Sontag, Susan. Illness as Metaphor. McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd., 1977.

https://monoskop.org/images/4/4a/Susan_Sontag_Illness_As_Metaphor

_1978.pdf