Matriz FODA

Information, Education and Communication (IEC) are effective tools for behaviour change, especially in the efforts by governments, non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders and groups in public health towards the complete eradication of polio virus worldwide. Information and communications are universally recognized as part of the tools for health promotion. Njelesani (1998) notes that they have been at the very heart of the work of the World Health Organization (WHO), they are contained in the constitution of the organization and have been underlined many times over the years in several resolutions of the World Health

UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY

22

Assembly and the Regional Committee for Africa. In order to achieve good health for majority of the populace, good communication is indispensable. The fact that it is people themselves who must be at the centre of health policy was fully recognized by the WHO constitution, and this has gained worldwide acceptance over the years (Njelesani, 1998).

The public is extremely diverse, making it important to remember that for it to be accessible and meaningful, information must be couched in terms that take into account the culture and priorities of the target audience. This is very important especially when designing campaign messages in a multicultural country like Nigeria. A campaign message on any health programme may succeed in one part but may turn out to be a failure in another part. This is because of the differences in religion, culture, language and to some extent socio-economic factors. (Eze, 2013). Due to new advances in information and communication technology, people‘s appetite for information and communication has increased tremendously especially as it concerns healthcare. Despite the importance of information and communication to health, efforts of stakeholders in support of health care development in Nigeria have been rather limited and their impact has been almost insignificant particularly in dealing with such health problems as polio, malaria and HIV/AIDS.

This situation, Njelesani (1998), is definitely unsatisfactory because in spite of the efforts made by the WHO, other health organizations and the national authorities in the last 60 years, many diseases such as polio and malaria are still rampant and a lot of people are still victims of avoidable suffering and preventable deaths. Due to rapid increase in population and hard economic conditions, government alone can no longer meet the ever-growing demand for health care. Hospitals and clinics are becoming more dilapidated and can no longer give basic first aid treatment. In addition, the dearth of qualified staff, poverty, ignorance and poor information and communication about certain health problems have made people to resort to treating some diseases at home. People are demanding information and communication on what they can do, how they can access, and how they can treat diseases or ailments that affect them. They also want to know the causes of various illnesses, and their prevention. This can only be solved by providing effective communication to people who need them. Even when the information is available, it may not be in the form they can understand easily. (Njelesani, 1988).

UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY

23

Again, some of the information needed may not reach the target audience because of the weaknesses or gaps in the information and communication systems in the country. The greatest need for health information is in the rural areas where the majority of people live. In Nigeria, most of the mass media outfits are largely urban-based and cater predominantly for an urban audience whose needs they understand. The implication therefore is that reaching rural audiences is a big challenge. The belief among the majority of Nigerians is that rural areas are inhabited by poor and illiterate people who are generally backward and have limited access to information;

the reverse is the case for the urban areas. (Smah, 2001).

This situation prompted Smah (2001) to observe that the exclusion of vast majority of citizens from such opportunities is due in part to social inequalities in the distribution of wealth and social services. Nigeria has over the years mounted several information and communication campaigns aimed at promoting good health, governance and ethics. An evaluation of some of these programmes revealed that they did not enjoy maximum acceptance, support and patronage.

As a result, many of them failed to achieve the set targets (Imoh, 1991).

According to Imoh (2006), one major constraint to the effectiveness of these health campaigns at the national level was lack of effective communication between the policy/decision makers and the public. Because of this, efforts at mobilizing the masses for action have lagged somewhat behind the technical and operational aspects of the programme such that community involvement and participation in health programmes have been taken for granted. This is especially the case in the polio eradication campaigns which have not performed at the expected level, thus making polio still a threat, not only in Nigeria, but also in other developing countries such as India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Polio has continued to ravage large population of children in northern Nigeria despite all the campaigns to combat it. (Onuekwe, 2013).

Most campaign design strategies are done without the involvement of the target audience and this is very necessary for any communication campaign to succeed. Effective communication strategy is very necessary in any campaign in Nigeria because the greatest need for health information is in the rural areas where the majority of people live. Yet, according to Njelasani (1998), the mass media on which much responsibility lies for disseminating such

UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY

24

information are largely urban-based and cater predominantly for an urban audience whose needs they understand. Distribution of printed materials containing Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) on health issues and newspapers in rural areas are often very difficult because of poor roads and transport systems. This is coupled with lack of adequate provision in the budget for information programme.

Moreover, rural people tend to have limited access to television and radio. Language, attitude of professionals may also create barriers to the dissemination of health information. This may be due to the attitude of health professionals who tend not to see why technical and scientific information should be made available to people who need them. In the same vein, media professionals do little to challenge this prejudice because many of them lack confidence in handling scientific subjects. This means that health workers at grassroots level are often inadequately equipped with information, materials, and communication skills to take advantage of the opportunities offered by regular contacts with the communities.

Much of the information that the public get on health problems comes from the media workers and decision makers who do not give it the desired attention. Rather, other issues such as sports and politics take the centre stage and are often budgeted for more. No society can develop without good healthcare and good healthcare can only be achieved when the populace is given adequate and effective communication that will help them to make an informed decision.

Effective communication strategy on health is important in order to tackle non-compliance with polio campaigns in the northern Nigeria as against what obtains in the southern Nigeria which appear to be succeeding in polio immunization and eradication. This unsatisfactory health situation is further aggravated by reduced access to effective information which could help people avoid common and preventable diseases such as polio. A well designed effective communication strategy should have as its goal, full coverage of the population with information, education and communication blueprint for tackling the polio scourge in Nigeria once and for all. Communication is a critical component in assuring that children are fully immunized and that simultaneous immunity is attained and maintained across large geographic areas for disease eradication and control initiatives (Waisbord, Lora, Ogden, and Chris, 2010).

UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY

25