Participatory communication and community-based rabies elimination in Bang Bon, Bangkok, Thailand

Abstract: Rabies is a global epidemic that affects the developing world disproportionally. This deadly disease is largely transmitted to humans via dog bites and is caused and perpetuated by human behaviors, including people not sterilizing and vaccinating dogs. Through the lens of participatory communication and culture theories, this thesis explores the extent to which communication tactics of a dog population and rabies control program in Bangkok, Thailand are participatory and whether this influences community efforts to vaccinate and sterilize free-roaming dogs in the city’s Bang Bon district. At a high level this study examines how empowering people at all levels of society in the planning and implementation of solutions to development challenges affords more sustainable outcomes. In doing so, it attends to issues of communication purpose, access, dialogue, culture, voice, feedback, cultural reflexivity, agency, participation and ownership. This study is an inductive qualitative inquiry that employs case study and interview research methods—specifically semi-structured, in-depth interviews with key informants and a small-scale survey. It uses the comparative analysis approach alongside its theoretical framework to draw conclusions from the research.