Communicating Anti-Malaria Drugs Amongst ‘A’ Group Gynotype Groups in South East Nigeria

Abstract

The effective communication of risks involved in anti-malaria dosage information dissemination is fundamental in health education and advocacies. Although there is no known pattern of communication perspective regarding numerous health risks involved in self-medication of anti-malaria drugs in Nigeria setting especially as more than half of the entire population relay on self-medication because of poor healthcare system. This paper reviews and evaluates the relative merits of two approaches to health risk communication of anti-malaria drugs on patients in Nigeria. One approach relies on the presentation of numerical information regarding the probability of a health problem occurring annually despite the claim of malaria eradication, whereas the other relies on the presentation of information about the antecedents and consequences of a health problem. Because people have considerable difficulty understanding and using quantitative information on the anti-malaria leaflets, the effectiveness of interventions that rely solely on numerical probability information has been limited. Interventions that provide people with a broader informational context to think about a health problem have had greater success systematically influencing perceptions of personal risk but have several important limitations. However, before any final conclusions can be drawn regarding the relative merits of different health risk communication strategies, investigators must agree on the specific criteria that should be used to identify an effective intervention. The finding pre-supposes a recurring pattern of approach to health risk information based on the peculiarity of recent interventions in the health sector