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IMPACT OF RADIO ON SENSITIZATION ON THE CAUSES AND PREVENTION OF MALARIA: A CASE STUDY OF ABEOKUTA SOUTH

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Mass media plays a vital role in the development process of a country is not again saying. The mass media generally regarded as a channel of communication that are capable of reaching heterogeneous audience simultaneously with uniform message. They regularly cover all sorts of issues such as health, music, fine art, crime, sport, entertainment, political events among others (Soela 2014). The mass media transmits ideas and new information to target audience in the society. Tosanisunmi (2004) has observed that the mass media educate, inform and entertain beyond these functions as they also persuade and catalyze for social mobilization. In other words, the mass media can be regarded as powerful service of information because they have the capability to penetrate every segment of society. They have the ability to disseminate messages about issue, ideas and product.

Radio is a vehicle for projecting personality through which it attracts and holds an audience. It is an efficient instrument for getting a message to a large number of people at the same time, because it transcends the boundary of space and time, and also leaps across illiteracy barriers (Onabajo, 2017).

Egbuchulam (2017) asserts that radio has been a major communication tool for improving the quality of people’s lives, bringing to their doorstep news, entertainment and education through its programmes. Despite the world wide enchantment with the internet and web-based learning, radio still retains the advantage of being able to serve dispersed, isolated, and disadvantaged communities aspiring to overcome the barriers of illiteracy and physical distance in many countries

Malaria is endemic in Nigeria (97%) and is responsible for one out of every five childhood deaths (United Nation Population Division: 2002). Nigeria also ranks first among the thirty-five countries that are responsible for 98% of the total malaria deaths world-wide and contributes 96% to the total number of malaria cases (Roll Back Malaria: 2008). Malaria is responsible for the morbidity and mortality from illnesses such as respiratory infections, diarrhea, iron-deficiency diseases, anemia and malnutrition (Opiyo, 2017).

At the moment, one of the major preoccupations and challenges of African countries and the Third World countries in general is how to combat the menace of malaria. The disease is not only endemic; it is equally regarded as a killer disease. For instance, the 2008 report of the World Health Organisation shows that it kills 3,000 children every day in Africa. Worse still, the records further show that 41% of the world's population lives in areas where malaria is transmitted which translates to 350-500 million cases of malaria each year the world over, and that the disease cause one million deaths every year in the world (WHO, 2017).

Insecticide-treated bed nets (ITNs) are a form of personal protection that has been shown to reduce malaria illness, severe disease, and death due to malaria in endemic regions. In community-wide trials in several African settings, ITNs were shown to

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