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| Public Awareness and Perception of Newspaper Reportage of Lassa fever Outbreaks in Nigeria
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OLANIRAN, Taiwo
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Abstract:
In spite of government's efforts to eradicate Lassa fever in Nigeria, the disease has become endemic, claiming lives in geometric dimension. Previous studies have identified that over three thousand people died annually from Lassa fever with over five thousand (5,000) cases occurring yearly across the West Africa sub region. However, there is dearth of literature on the role of newspapers in creating awareness about the disease, including the perception of the public on the education, surveillance, and mobilization roles of the media. This study, therefore, examined the public awareness and perception of newspaper reportage of Lassa fever out breaks in Nigeria. The study adopted triangulation method which involved content analysis of The Punch, The Guardian, and The Nigerian Tribune newspapers that were purposively selected to generate quantitative and qualitative outcomes. Two thousand four hundred (2,400) respondents were selected from the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria through multi-stage sampling technique. Twelve health correspondents and editors were purposively interviewed and data from the interviews were analysed. Findings revealed that the newspaper's reportage of health issue was adequate. The result also showed that respondents gained sufficient knowledge on the causes, transmissions, effects, preventions, and control of Lassa fever. Similarly, public perception of Lassa fever significantly increased, as 71.9% of the respondents were satisfied with news and editorials presented by the three newspapers. Furthermore, findings from the health reporters showed that poor economy, unhygienic environment, and inadequate information from the scientists were some of the challenges encountered by health correspondents. The result equally revealed that differences in the newspapers were due to house style, editorial policy, and philosophy of the media organisations. The study therefore concluded that public awareness and perception of Newspaper reportage of Lassa fever will sufficiently improve with increased coverage of the disease. It was therefore recommended that media should deepen coverage of health issues and not wait until there is a health crisis. Also, public health campaigns on hygienic environment and behavioural change as panacea to overcoming Lassa fever should be intensified.
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