GARC Communications Survey: what you said

To better inform the rabies community and to help improve the usability and visibility of  communications, the GARC newsletter team carried out a survey of newsletter readers in the spring of 2013.

Over the course of the summer, 120 responses from 48 different countries were received.  Respondents were asked about their location, their rabies knowledge level, the way that they accesses the newsletter and the content suitability.

By region, the largest number of respondents were from North America (29%), with  Asia (23%) and Africa (22%) second and third. By country, the US (24%) and  India (8.4%) had the greatest numbers of respondents.

Most of the responders were actively working in rabies control (82%) and had a moderate to advanced knowledge of rabies (88.3%).  Many of the respondents read the GARC newsletter quite frequently, and 74% of respondents read most or every issue. 12.5% had donated to GARC.

The content of the GARC newsletter is based on current research findings and newsworthy stories from around the globe. Almost all of the respondents (nearly 84%) found the content level to be suitable and provide sufficient detail on rabies-related news and literature. Fewer than 7% of respondents wished for more detailed reports on rabies stories, and just over 10% thought that GARC newsletter content was too detailed.

All of the different ways of accessing the information were used. Respondents read the overview of the articles in the circulated email content, and many also click through to the links referenced in the newsletter articles (over 52%).

There were also a substantial number of readers (nearly 38%, mainly from Africa and Asia) who download the full pdf version, which can be printed and distributed to colleagues in the field who may not have access to the internet. The readers generally keep in touch with GARC through emails and the GARC and WRD website. Fewer than 10% of responses indicated that readers are using social media (Facebook or Twitter) for GARC communications.

Additional comments received were very helpful to us, with ease of access to information on rabies and the newsletter being the concern raised most frequently in the comments section. Several readers lamented their poor internet connections, a lack of resources in-country to put towards effective on-going education on rabies-related issues, and a lack of communications translated into other languages. There were also suggestions to include more topical news related content and developments from different regions of the world. We will seek to include these in future issues.

Overall, the feedback we received was very positive. Thank you for the time spent giving us feedback and for your support.

Finally, a few respondents asked about making donations. You can donate to GARC online from anywhere in the world through our secure PayPal donation engine. To go to our donation page, please click here

Contributed by Laura Baker, a volunteer for GARC and newsletter editor, Louise Taylor