Stigmatization of Obstetric Fistula Patients in Northern Nigeria

Abstract

This study was conducted to find out Programmes used by the Radio to create awareness and sustain the fight against Vesico Vagina Fistula disease among females in Kano and Katsina States, Nigeria.Data was gathered through structured questionnaire and 389 healthy women attending antenatal care and those receiving treatment at designated VVF centres were recruited into the study. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze data. The findings showed that most of the participants indicated that they had been listening to the radio for the past three months and heard about VVF (73.8%), but only 27% were exposed to any radio spots messages on VVF.While radio utilized different programme strategies to disseminate information on VVF, discussions and interviews featuring experts on the disease remained the most recurrent format for disseminating information on VVF and updating listeners' knowledge about the disease. However, in-spite of the high exposure to discussions and interviews, most listeners (84.7%) preferred radio drama programmes as the most recurrent formats for disseminating information on VVF and promoting listeners' awareness. The study concludes that, of all programmes used in disseminating information on VVF in the study area, radio drama was the most commonly preferred programme among the female audience about the disease. Therefore, more drama series should be produced in Hausa language and aired by radio stations to create awareness about the disease and other public health problems in the study area.