Newspaper Promotion of Health Millennium Development Goals in Nigeria

Kayode, Olujimi Olusola Department of Journalism Lagos State University Email: jimikayode@yahoo.ca Voice: 234-803-353-4894

Thanny, Noeem Taiwo Department of Public Relations and Advertising Lagos State University Email: bosunthanny@yahoo.co.uk Voice: 234-803-249-2604

Abisiga, Aishat Oluwaseun Department of Public Relations and Advertising

ABSTRACT Using the agenda setting theory as a theoretical framework, and content analysis as the method, this paper examines how selected Nigerian newspapers cover health millennium development goals such as, child mortality, maternal health, HIV aids, malaria and other diseases. The paper examines the extent of coverage of health promotions concerning the diseases mentioned and the format in which they were reported as well as the direction of coverage and the major characters. The study found that Health stories where highly reported, especially as this affects us in our country, continent and the rest of the world, in that order. The study also shows that the health story mostly reported is HIV/AIDS and malaria and less of child mortality and maternal health. The paper concludes that health-related MDGs when adequately covered by newspapers would help the people to know health issues as it affects them and enhance individual and communal health. Also, that newspapers should ensure that there is more coverage of health-related MDGs and more emphasis laid on all the issues not just a particular one.

INTRODUCTION The bid to reduce poverty level worldwide led to the declaration of Millennium Development Goals in the year 2000 (AnnanYao, 2004). Countries, especially developing countries, were mandated to cut by half the incidence of poverty by 2015 among other goals. MDG complements other efforts to improve the quality of country health data and aims to build capacity in countries among other things (UNAIDS/WHO, 2005). Newspapers are becoming increasingly popular and increasingly controversial. Just like the television station, newspapers promotes awareness, opportunities, promotes causes as well as reports on them. There are supports from national and regional efforts to achieve the MDGs through an extensive body of normative and technical work and the building systems to track progress and measure achievement and to coordinate technical collaboration (Fatusi & Jimoh, 2006). In September 2000, 189 world leaders made a commitment to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) represent commitment by governments worldwide to do more to reduce poverty and hunger and to tackle ill-health, gender-inequality, lack of access to education, lack of access to clean water, and environmental degradation (WHO, 2003). Three of the eight goals relate directly to health: to reduce maternal mortality by three-quarters, child mortality by two-thirds, and combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. Health is an essential component of three further targets: to halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger, improve access to safe drinking water and sanitation and ensure affordable, safe access to essential drugs. Urgent health problems were tackled at High-Level Forum (HLF) on the Health Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Abuja, Nigeria, 2-3 December 2004. The HLF, hosted by the government of Nigeria and organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank, brings together many of the worlds

leaders in health and development, ministers of health and finance, aid donors, senior representatives of the global development community and charitable foundations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (Busari, 2004). As the second part of a series of highlevel, they addressed some of the worlds most challenging health problems in order to help accelerate progress towards achieving the health MDGs. The HLF comes in advance of 2005, the "report card year", when Heads of State met to review progress at the Millennium +5 Summit in September. Statistics show that at current rates of progress, these goals will not be met in many parts of the world (Fatusi & Jimoh, 2006). However, Dr. Lee Jong-wook, Director-General of WHO said, progress is possible with commitment: Technology and proven health interventions are often available and affordable." Dr. Lee points to countries with little money, such as Peru, Mozambique and Vietnam, where systematic efforts to improve health care are working: We believe that there is much we can do now, to move from promises to better lives for millions of poor people (AnnanYao, 2004). The members of the HLF on the health MDGs mapped out action in several key areas of international health and development. They include: increased funding from national governments and donors to attainment of the health goals, better coordination between donors to manage aid; urgent action to address a massive shortage of health workers, particularly in southern Africa and finally, greater attention to "fragile states" - countries affected by crisis. To see that goals are achieved, several sectors take part in disseminating the information such as NGOs, private sectors, newspaper agency and others. (Kanki & Adeyi, 2006). Nigerian newspapers cover local issues, politics, major events and celebrations, lifestyle of the Nigerian people and business news of Nigeria. Nigeria has one of the most pulsating media systems in Africa. According to Fatusi and Jimoh (2006), over 100 national and local newspapers and publications operate in Nigeria. Some of them are owned by the state
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government. The Nigerian newspapers include esteemed dailies, well-liked tabloids and periodicals that defend the welfare of groups in Nigeria. The Guardian is a significant national daily of Nigeria under private ownership. The other most admired daily of Nigeria is the Vanguard based in Lagos. The Daily Sun is also a very popular newspaper of Nigeria, also based in Lagos. The two most important government-owned newspapers in Nigeria are the Daily Times and the New Nigerian. The other significant newspapers operating in Nigeria are The Champion, The Punch, The Daily Independent, The Daily Trust, and This Day. The two most popular weekly news magazines of Nigeria are The Newswatch and Tell. Most of newspapers areas of work support the achievement of the MDGs in a cross-cutting way or by providing informative support. The Nigerian newspapers had played a very significant role in achieving a sincere and responsible government by being candidly vocal about the social, economic and political as well as health issues in Nigeria (Fatusi & Jimoh, 2006). Nigeria has a state owned news agency called the "News Agency of Nigeria", from which a Nigeria newspaper usually obtains the daily raw news. Direct reporting is also largely practiced in the Nigerian media, with the Nigerian newspapers covering local, and national first-hand news. They also monitor core health indicators, as well as indicators for other areas of public health that help explain progress in the achievement of specific goals at country level. These include immunization coverage for new antigens, prevalence of risk factors for non-communicable diseases, effectiveness of interventions against these diseases, and impoverishment of households through health payments. The scale of the challenge is significant. If trends observed during the 1990s continue, the majority of poor countries will not meet the health MDGs (world health report, 2005). However, data on coverage of health interventions are more encouraging: measles immunization is rising in many countries; the proportion of women who have a skilled
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medical person with them during delivery has increased rapidly in some regions, especially Asia, albeit from low levels; and use of insecticide-treated bed nets has risen. Finally, the world is on track to meet the drinking water target, but, at current rates, the global sanitation target will be missed by half a billion people - most of them in rural Africa and Asia. Developing countries are ready to strengthen their health systems but the issue is complex in most countries. The first HLF on the Health MDGs took place in January 2004 in Geneva. Representatives from twenty-two countries attended the Abuja Forum. Ministers from the following countries attended: Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Iran, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Timor-Leste, Uganda, and Zambia. The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) build on agreements made at United Nations conferences in the 1990s and represent commitments from both developed and developing countries. The Millennium Goals include challenges for rich and poor countries alike. They set targets for developing countries to reduce poverty and hunger, and to tackle ill-health, gender inequality, lack of education, lack of access to clean water and environmental degradation. The MDGs also recognize potential contributions from developed countries of trade, assistance, debt relief, and access to essential medicines and technology transfer. The Health Goals includes the following; Goal 4: Reduce child mortality: Some progress has taken place in specific countries. However, nearly 11 million children under the age of five die every year globally from preventable disease. In 16 countries, 14 of which are in Africa, levels of under-five mortality are higher than in 1990. Goal 5: Improve maternal health: There have been increases in the rate of attended deliveries in South-East Asia and North Africa. However, more than 500 000 women die in

pregnancy and childbirth each year and maternal death rates are 1000 times higher in subSaharan Africa than in high income countries. Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases: There have been successes in selected countries, like Uganda, where they have made progress on reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS. However, the story is bleak in many countries. With three million deaths from HIV/AIDS alone each year, the worsening global pandemic has reversed life expectancy and economic gains in several African countries. Some developing countries have made impressive gains in achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals, targets and indicators. However, many more are falling behind. Progress is particularly slow in sub-Saharan Africa. The MDGs provide an analysis of development in which health and education are squarely at the centre. The target year for the MDGs is ten years in the future. However, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Dr Lee Jong-wook says it will be impossible to achieve the goals in 2015 unless governments and organizations have the courage and foresight to act immediately. Thus, the MDGs are a form of shorthand for some of the most important outcomes that development should achieve: fewer women dying in childbirth, more children surviving the early years of life, dealing with the catastrophe of HIV/AIDS, making sure people have access to clean water and sanitation, life-saving drugs, better health, and finally, making a major contribution to the reduction of poverty. To this effect, Nigerian provides the people with information on how the country is striving to meet the health-related Millennium Development Goals.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM According to the 2008 report of the MDGs, the print coverage of MDGs is low and not encouraging in the rural areas and there is media neglect especially in the print medium. Commercialization has eaten deep into the industry and issues with financial footings and backings are reported. The MDGs, targeted at 2015 is relatively unknown to the target audience, this to a great extent, throws a doubt at its survival and achievement. To this effect, it becomes imperative to say that there is negative long term and short term effect of poor dissemination of adequate information with regards to health in the print media. There is need to know if the increasing popularity of news print has strengthened or harmed peoples knowledge of their health concerns in respect to the MDG goals. Even when the information gets to the target audience, some are in the form that it is difficult for an average person in that area to understand. Most of the prints do not take into cognisance the fact that their are individual as well as cultural differences in the way people accept, process and interprets information passed on to them.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS This study aims at providing answers to this following research questions: What is the extent of newspaper coverage of health MDG promotions? In what formats do the promotions of health MDGs come? What is the direction of the coverage of the health MDGs?

Who are the major characters identified in the coverage?

LITERATURE REVIEW MILLENIUM DEVELOMENT GOALS (MDGs) The Millennium Development Goals were adopted in the year 2000 by all the worlds governments as a blueprint for building a better world in the 21st century. The MGDs represent a global partnership and this is arising from commitments and targets set at the world summits of the 1990s. As a universal declaration, it consists of internationally agreed framework of 8 goals and 18 targets which was complemented by 48 technical indicators to measure progress towards the Millennium Development Goals. These indicators, of course, were adopted by a consensus of experts from the United Nations, IMF, World Bank etc. Simply, the Millennium Development Goals focus on the efforts of the world community on ways to achieve significant and measurable improvements in peoples lives (Wagstaff, 2006). The MDGs are interrelated and interdependent, as trying to tackle one goal, involves the other. For example, to reduce poverty (Goal 1, Target 1) steps have to be taken to ensure adequate nutrition and have a healthier population. To have good health also depends on astute use of natural resources and environmental sustainability. There are eight goals, 18

targets and 48 indicators to measure the MDGs. Three out of the eight goals and eight of the 18 targets relate directly to health. Health is an important contributor to each of the goals and is implicated in other targets and indicators. Several of the targets, which are more specific and defined than the goals, are health-related. This is the case for the health targets for safer drinking water and sanitation, providing access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries and the hunger target.
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The 48 quantitative indicators for monitoring progress towards the eight MDGs were agreed upon by the United Nations system in 2001. Eighteen measure achievement related directly to health. WHO is involved in the measurement of 17 indicators, cooperating on an 18th with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. The following are the health goals: Goal 4: Reducing child mortality. The target is to reduce by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015 the under-five mortality rate, equivalent to an annual rate of reduction of 4.3 percent. Examples of child mortality includes; breastfeeding; hand washing; safe disposal of stool; latrine use; safe preparation of weaning foods; use of insecticide treated bed nets; complementary feeding; immunization; micronutrient supplementation (zinc and vitamin A); prenatal care, including steroids and tetanus toxoid; anti-malarial intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy; newborn temperature management; replacement feeding; antibiotics for premature rupture of membranes; clean delivery, case management with oral rehydration therapy for diarrhea; antibiotics for dysentery, pneumonia, and sepsis; anti-malarial for malaria; newborn resuscitation; breastfeeding complementary feeding during illness; micronutrient

supplementation (zinc and vitamin A). In Western and Central Africa, mortality rates for under-fives are among the highest in the world. The figures stand at 184% compared to global average of 88% according to UNICEF; girls mortality rates are higher than those of boys. By the time girls are teenagers, they are exposed to gender specific reproductive health problems such as early pregnancy as a result of early marriage and premature sexuality, unwanted pregnancy, abortion, sexual exploitation and commercial sex, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and HIV/AIDS

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Goal 5: Improve maternal health or maternal mortality Every year more than half a million women die from complications in pregnancy and childbirth. Over 300 million suffer from avoidable illness and disability. Globally some 210 million women and men who say they would like to use family planning do not have adequate access to good quality contraception. The maternal health Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5 aims to improve maternal health such as Family planning (lifetime risk); intermittent malaria prophylaxis; use of insecticide-treated bed nets; micronutrient supplementation (iron, folic acid, calcium for those who are deficient) Antibiotics for preterm rupture of membranes; skilled attendants (especially active management of third stage of labor); basic and emergency obstetric care. There are two targets: one to reduce maternal deaths and the other to provide universal access to reproductive health. Little progress has been made over the past two decades and MDG 5 is severely off-track. Maternal deaths represent the greatest indicator of inequity between rich and poor women. In the poorest parts of the world, the risk of a woman dying as a result of pregnancy or childbirth is about 1 in 6. In Northern Europe the risk is about 1 in 30,000. In order to attain the maternal health MDG a concentrated, sustained, long-term investment in health services and health infrastructure is required. This includes having skilled birth attendants who have supplies and equipment, improving access to family planning services and action to address the issue of unsafe abortion. Improving the status of women and promoting their rights are also critical. Ensuring access to reproductive health and family planning services for all could help avert up to 35% of maternal deaths. Progress made during 2007 includes increasing activity and advocacy on

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MDG 5 at global and country levels as well as work to address socio-economic barriers to help overcome the prohibitive costs of safe delivery for the poor.

Goal 6: combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. The target is to halt and begin to reverse the spread of the diseases by 2015. Diarrhea diseases, pneumonia, and malaria account for 52 percent of under-five deaths worldwide, and at least one proven preventive and treatment intervention exists for each of these causes of death, all capable of being implemented in low-income areas. For diarrhea, the secondleading cause of child deaths, five preventive interventions and three treatment interventions are proven, cost effective, and available. HIV/AIDS is a critical poverty issue which unfortunately affects women and children many of whom are orphaned. Due to this scourge, the term female headed household is rapidly giving way to child headed household as the number of HIV/AIDS orphans is on the increase. Other health-related problems claim childrens lives; a study by Akinyele et al (2004) in Nigeria, discovered that sixty percent of child deaths are related to Protein Energy Malnutrition (PEM) making it the greatest single cause of child mortality. According to them, if no action is taken, PEM will be the underlying cause of about 2.5 million child deaths between now and the year 2015. This is about 700 deaths per day everyday in the next 10 years, which is five times the estimated number of child deaths that will be attributable to HIV/AIDS over the same period of time. If the above statistics are analyzed carefully, it means about 140 children per day will die of HIV/AIDS if nothing is done, and fast too! One has to remember that the concurrent threats of hunger and HIV/AIDS in parts of Nigeria are leading to complex crisis where people
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affected by HIV/AIDS are unable to sufficiently produce, grow food or work for a living. At the same time, lack of nutrition makes people who are affected by HIV succumb more quickly to the full disease. It is the contention of some, apart from economic poverty which affects women, poverty of information - that is lack of information appropriate to help women in their personal health matters - constitute a great barrier. Thus, to meet the target of halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and the incidence of malaria and other killer diseases by 2015 in Nigeria, many intervention programmes have been devised. The HIV/AIDS scourge has reached alarming proportions worldwide and due to their biological constitution (it seems), women and girls are infected by HIV/AIDS much earlier and have higher prevalence rates than boys and men, in the 15-19 years age group, an estimated 240,000 Nigerian children are infected. (UNAIDS/WHO, 2005). Some scholars believe that HIV transmission in Africa is driven by the unequal gender relationships that give men rights over women in reproductive health matters (AnnanYao, 2004) BEYOND THE MDGs/ LIMITATION OF MDGs The MDGs provide an analysis of development in which health and education are squarely at the centre. However, the MDGs do not cover all aspects of health and development For example MDGs do not touch on the importance of effective health systems, which are essential to the achievement of all health goals, reproductive health or non communicable diseases. The target year for the MDGs is six years in the future. However, the DirectorGeneral of the World Health Organization, Dr LEE Jong-wook says it will be impossible to achieve the goals in 2015 unless governments and organizations have the courage and foresight to act immediately. The MDGs are a form of shorthand for some of the most important outcomes that development should achieve: fewer women dying in childbirth, more children surviving the
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early years of life, dealing with the catastrophe of HIV/AIDS, making sure people have access to clean water and sanitation, life-saving drugs, better health, and finally, making a major contribution to the reduction of poverty. On the other hand, the limitations of the MDGs and its targets are well documented. First, they risk simplifying what development is about, by restricting the goals to what is measurable. Many aspects of development cannot be easily measured. Secondly, some of the goals are very modest e.g. the goal to half the proportion of people living on less than $1 a day by 2015 and the target to achieve a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020. Finally, some of the targets do not address some the problems holistically. For instance, the MDG on education talks only of a full course of primary schooling with no reference to secondary and tertiary education. Despite the limitations mentioned above, why should we engage the MDGs? There are various reasons. First, the MDGs draw together in single agenda issues that require priority to address the development question. Secondly, the MDGs have received tremendous endorsement and backing by worlds governments. Thirdly, the MDGs have the advantage being more or less measurable, few in number, concentrated on human development and focused almost on a single date-2015. Another advantage of the MDGs is that it adds urgency and transparency to international development. Finally, explicit resource commitments have been made to achieve the MDGs. In the Nigerian context, the civil society Consultative Forum on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) held in Abuja, Nigeria on 20th April, 2004 provided the following three reasons why we need to engage the MDGs:

MDGs provide additional entry point to engage government on development issues.

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 MDGs affect all segments of the society and CSOs serve as the link between government and the grassroots. MDGs provide the link between local and international actions towards human centered development.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK The theory that drives this study is the agenda setting theory. McCombs (2004) opines that this is the idea that the news media, by their display of news, come to determine the issue the public thinks about and talks about. The news media in its function call attention to certain items and such items gain prominence among the readers as the prevalent issue to think and talk about. The news media, it is assumed, possess this power as a result of its surveillance or information provision function, correlation or criticism function and entertainment or relaxation function. However, as a result of criticism and continuous research, the agenda setting has been reviewed into agenda building to indicate that matters reported in the media do not instantly become prominent on the list of what the public think and talk about, but a process that takes time and goes through several stages such as: The press highlights some events or activities and makes them stand out. Different kinds of issue require different kinds and amount of news coverage to gain attention. The events and activities in the focus of attention must be framed, or given a field of meaning within which they can be understood.

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 The language used by the media can affect perception of importance of an issue. The media link the activities or events that have become the focus of attention to secondary symbols whose location on the political landscape is easily recognised. Agenda building is accelerated when well-known and credible individuals begin to speak out on an issue. Finally, a prominent dimension in agenda setting is the suggestion that the press rather than reflects societal realities is more like a searchlight, and where the searchlight is shinning can be affected by groups with special interests in an issue, by pseudo events created to get attention and by certain habit and ritual (practices) of journalists (Shoemaker & Mayfield cited in McCombs, 2005). EMPIRICAL REVIEW The role of the media in providing health information has been studied extensively. Research interest has mainly focused on health information and its accuracy, public health campaigns and their effectiveness, the role of the media in health behaviour changes and other impact studies (e.g. Stryker, 2003; Jones, 2004). The coverage, accuracy of information and distribution of various health themes in the newspapers are mainly studied by quantitative content analysis (e.g. Hubbel and Dearing, 2003; Davidson and Wallack, 2004). The representations of various health themes in the media, such as determinants of health (Ratzan, 2002), food risks (Lupton, 2004), the risks of passive smoking (Chapman, 1989) and mental health (Hazelton, 1997) have been studied using content analysis or discourse analysis.

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A study by Fairclough and Wodak (1997) found that media texts form and modify the context in which they exist, even though they are themselves the products of the same social context. They further found that health promotion activities are strongly linked with the social context, among others with the mass media, which is a powerful companion in health promotion actions. Beside explicit health communication there is also plenty of implicit health information in the media, messages which unintentionally and unconsciously are related to health. Talking about health promotion, i.e. health promotion discourse in the media is influenced by cultural determinants, such as societal values, norms and beliefs. The discourses on promoting health and well-being in journalism reflect the health promotion culture in society. A study by Aarka and Parkarinen (2006) illustrates how health promotion is portrayed by 147 newspaper items from the two Finnish quality dailies during the period 20022004 and introduces a semiotic Actantial Model of Health Promotion (AMHP) for studying health promotion cultures. The most popular news themes on health promotion were physical and social environment, welfare services, nutrition and obesity, and mental wellbeing. The actants (actors, actions and abstract factor) of health promotion were identified and the AMHP with seven key actants (generator, health-object, public, tool, executor, threat and obstacle) was constructed. The study argues that the AMHP can be used as a semiotic method to identify the value dimensions and the boundaries between the dominant and the opposite discourses of health promotion in various communications such as advertising and health education. Also, it provides a tool for the analysis of the media's role in victimization or heroization of various population groups. Therefore, in the light of their analysis it seems that the focus of the health discourse in the studied two dailies is not upon medical issues, but more broadly on public health. Journalism can be seen as polyphonic space where various actors strive to bring their views into the public discussion by competing for the media

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publicity. Since the very concept of health promotion is essentially polyphonic, this is obviously reflected in the multiplicity of themes covered in the texts. Another study by Paulsen (2006), illustrated health promotion in the Finnish newspapers by studying which themes newspapers deal with when writing about health promotion and by constructing a semiotic model to study cultural aspects of health promotion. The most popular themes in health promotion in the data were physical and social environment and welfare services. These findings are consistent with the results of Commers et al., who analysed Dutch newspapers (Commers et al., 2000). Nutrition and obesity, mental well-being, drugs and exercise were also among the popular themes. It has been argued that the medicalization of everyday life is reflected in the media (Seale, 2002). Their analysis, however, does not suggest that medical views have a prominent role in the news stories. This may have to do with the fact that at the outset they defined health in broader terms than simply the absence of illness. Health promotion was then understood through the broad definition by the World Health Organization (World Health Organization, 1986). This meant that their research material came to include texts that would have been excluded if they had focused solely on the medical prevention of diseases or other medical subjects. Moreover, treatment sensations and other purely medical news were excluded from the data. METHODS The method of this research is content analysis. Content analysis refers to a systemic method of analysing message content, a tool for analysing the messages of certain communicators, i.e. newspapers. In content analysis, the researcher examines the communications that have been produced at times and places of ones chosen. Thus, content analysis is explained as the

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objective, systematic, and quantitative description of communication content (Berelson cited in Severin & Tankard, 1992). This study is restricted to newspaper reports between 2001 and 2008. Four national dailies were purposively selected after the researcher had rationalized the four newspapers for availability, continuous existence from the stipulated period for the research (2001-2008) and national coverage/spread. The newspapers analysed were selected through simple random sampling. After the four newspapers must had selected, one month each was selected from each year by mutual inclusion. Furthermore, a week of the selected months was further selected through the same process in order to get the actual days to be content analysed in the selected newspapers. The unit of analysis for the research will be whole health news report with or without picture or photograph. For this reason, the analysis will be restricted to news pages of the selected newspapers. DATA PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION The data was collected in the month of June, 2009 and it consists of news stories published by Guardian, Vanguard, Nation and This Day newspapers. The data obtained from this study are presented in table and percentages. On the whole, four newspapers were selected. The findings of the study are as follows: Health subjects covered by Newspapers Subject Guardia n HIV/AIDS and Malaria 09 05 12 04 30 Vanguard Nation This Day Total

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Child mortality Maternal improvement Other Total

03 02 03 17

01 02 02 10

02 05 03 22

01 01 02 08

07 10 10 57

From the table, Guardian covered seventeen health subjects. Vanguard covered ten health subjects, while Nation covered twenty two health subjects and This Day covered eight different health subjects. Of all the 57 health stories covered by the four newspapers, HIV/AIDS and Malaria issues seem to be prevalent in them. Other health issues followed this, while maternal improvement and Child mortality follows suit respectively. Coverage of News Reports Coverage Guardia n Nigeria Africa International Total 11 04 02 17 07 03 00 10 15 05 01 22 03 36 (63.16) 03 15 (26.32) 02 08 05 (8.77) 57(100%) Vanguard Nation This Day Total

The table shows that most of the stories reported by the four Newspapers were local/domestic stories (63.16%). Nation reported more of local stories than African and International stories. Vanguard and Guardian reported local and African stories while This Day reported local, African and International stories in no significant disparity. Amount of space devoted to health topics by newspapers Amount of space/Newspaper 1 4 inches 5 8 inches 00 03 00 02
20

Guardian

Vanguard Nation This Day Total

00 05

00

00 (-)

02 12(21.05%)

9 12 inches 13 -16 inches 17 20 inches 21 24 inches 25 28 inches 29 32 inches 33 above Total

02 04 02 02 02 02 00 17

02 03 01 01 00 01 00 10

02 06 03 02 02 01 01 22

02 08(14.04%) 01 14(24.56%) 01 07(12.28%) 01 06(10.53%) 00 00 01 08 04(7.02%) 04(7.02%) 03(5.23%) 57(100%)

Table shows that 24.56 percent of all health topics occupied between 13 -16 inches. 21.05 percent of the topics in all the newspaper occupied between 5-8 inches, while 14.04 occupied 9 12 inches. The spaces occupied here include headlines and by-lines. When the space categories were divided into low, medium and high, the medium or average category seem to occupy most spaces with 47.37 percent. The low or minimum category followed this with 35.09 percent, while the high category took 19.27 percent. From this, it appears that most health topics in the four newspapers occupied medium and low spaces. Pagination of health stories in the Newspapers Page Guardia n Front page only Back page only Inside front page Inside back page Centre spread Inside FP continued inside 00 00 01 01 04 10 01 00 00 02 00 01 05 02
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Vanguard Nation This Day Total

00 02 03 01 03 07 02

00 00

00(-) 02(3.51%)

01 07(12.28%) 00 02(3.51%)

00 08(14.04%) 07 39(64.42%) 00 05(8.77%)

BP continued inside Others Total

00 00 17

00 00 10

01 03 22

00 00 08

01(1.75%) 03(5.26%) 57(100%)

The table indicates that majority (64.42%) of the health stories were reported in inside pages of the four newspapers. 8.77% made front page news with continuation on a page inside the newspapers. This news was reported by all except for This Day. The percentage recorded inside the front page is 12.28 while centre spread has 14.04 percent. From the table above, it shows that health stories rarely make front/back pages, and as such not very prominent. Main source of health report Source of report Guardia n Statement/speech Publication/report Reporters interview Press conference Public opinion poll No source indicated Total 04 07 02 00 00 04 17 05 03 01 00 00 01 10 08 09 02 00 00 03 22 02 19(33.33%) 03 22(38.60%) 01 06(10.53%) 01 00 01(1.75%) 00(-) Vanguard Nation This Day Total

01 09(15.79%) 08 57 (100%)

The table indicates that main source of health news stories are publication/report (38.60%). Statement/speech (33.33%) and sources that are not indicated (15.79%) followed respectively. Type of news stories Type of story Guardia n Straight news story 09 06
22

Vanguard Nation This Day Total

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06 32(56.14%)

Picture/photo + caption News story and picture Advertorial news Cartoon on news page Others Total

02 04 02 00 00 17

00 03 00 00 01 10

04 O4 02 01 00 22

00

6(10.53%)

00 11(19.30%) 00 01 01 08 4(7.02%) 2(3.51) 2(3.51) 57 (100)

The information on table indicates that majority of the health news reported by the four newspapers were straight news stories (56.14). This is followed by news story and picture (19.30) and picture/photo + caption (10.53). Direction of health news story Direction Guardia n Favourable Neutral Unfavourable Total 05 02 10 17 03 01 06 10 07 03 12 22 01 16(28.07%) 02 8(14.03%) Vanguard Nation This Day Total

05 33(57.89%) 08 57(100%)

The table shows that most of the story reported where unfavourable (57.89) while, 28.07% of the stories where favourable. Focus of health news story Focus Health only Health others Others 00
23

Guardian 12 with 05

Vanguard 07 03

Nation 16 06

This Day 06 02

Total 23(71.93%) 16(28.07%)

mixed

00

00

00

00(-)

Total

17

10

22

08

57(100%)

The table indicates that health news story constitute 71.93% focus of the story and is mixed with other stories only at 28.07% of the news story.

DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS In assessing the results of our study it needs to be borne in mind that I did not explore the intentions of the newspapers. Instead, in line with my theoretical premises, I was interested in the health-related MDGs promotion culture portrayed by newspaper journalism. This in turn reflects the shared health promotion thinking in our country. The first hypothesis which says that there will be under-coverage of health-related MDGs was rejected. The study found that Health stories where highly reported at a greater percentage. This supports the earlier findings of Fairclough and Wodak (1997) that mass media is a good companion of health promotion because they spread the news/message faster and wider. Furthermore, it consistent with the study by Aarka and Parkarinen (2006) which found that the mass media is a great tool for preaching the need for good health especially public health in Finland. This indicates that the newspaper firms since the inception of MDGs has been doing there bid in making sure that the right message especially as it concerns our health is passed on to the public. This study clearly shows that they have been reporting health MDGs as it affects us in our country, continent and the rest of the world. It reveals that the newspapers studied makes more publication on the health issues as it affects us more in Nigeria than Africa and the rest of the world. The snag here is that we do not get to know about what is happening around us and thereby may not have a clear ground to benchmark our progress and effort.
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The newspapers also show how unfavourable the issue of health is which indicates the need to act fast to eradicate them in order to meet with the MDGs time line of 2015. Though there is a high percentage of newspaper coverage of health issues, they are usually tucked away in the inside pages with very few making the front pages or headlines. This shows that though the newspapers report health stories, they do not view it as important news to make the FrontPage unlike the political news as it is obtainable now. In addition to this, they also occupied minimum or averages spaces. This emphasizes the need pay more attention to health issues especially if the MDGs 2015 target is to be met. By appearing as headliners, the message will be passed on faster particularly in this country where our reading culture is poor and the rate at which people skim through papers are high. The second hypothesis which states that, newspaper coverage of health-related MDGs will be directed towards an angle of health was confirmed. This is consistent with the earlier findings of Paulsen (2006) which shows that the report of health issues is tilted towards a theme of health. The study shows that the health story mostly reported is HIV/AIDS and malaria which constitute goal 6 of the MDGs. Little attention is paid to other health goals especially goal 4 reduction of child mortality. This shows that less attention is paid to the children who are leaders of tomorrow. We are more focused on the HIV/AIDS issue that affects the adults the most with some innocent children being affected also (most likely from their parents). Though HIV/AIDS and malaria are very serious ailments that need to be tackled in all earnest, it is also important that the rate at which children die as well as the rate at which pregnant women suffer be on our minds at every point. We are not to focus on only an aspect of health but on all especially since they affect our society invariably. By not reporting adequately health issues as it affects children and the need for maternal improvement as much as HIV/AIDS and malaria, it shows negligence. The less emphasis that is placed on child

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mortality and maternal improvement shows that more effort need to be put if the healthrelated MDGs is to be achieved.

5.0

CONCLUSION

The conclusion of this study will be made based on the findings carried out during the research period. Millennium development Goals (MDGs) having gained wide spread acceptance in Nigeria, especially in health sector, lot still has to be done in terms of giving the stories more space in the print media. Malaria and HIV/AIDS were given much prominence while child mortality and maternal mortality thats on the increase, has been relegated to the background. Health-related MDGs when adequately covered by newspapers would help the people to know health issues as it affects us and how to prevent it. It will equally help the government to know how they have faired in meeting up with the goals especially since the estimated year (2015) is just few years away. To this end, newspapers should ensure that there is more coverage of health-related MDGs and more emphasis laid on all the issues not just a particular health issue. More information would help all stakeholders evolve better strategies at fighting the health problems or tackling it aside from the need to meet with the goals. Thus, newspaper coverage of these issues will highlight the most pressing issues as well as measure the progress made at stalling it in addition to more effective way of reaching the goals by 2015.

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The use of Information Education Communication (IEC) materials effectively as intervention will have to entail some modifications as more of print media should be evolved for more effective disseminating of information about health-related MDGs. The change in perspective would then change the nature of the entire field examined. This would make it possible to identify and better understand the role of the mass media in health promotion.

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