Media Reportage and Audience Perception of Hepatitis Disease in Nigeria

Abstract

The growing incidence of hepatitis disease has become a perennial issue across the globe. Healthcare providers and communication experts agree that hepatitis disease is a highly infectious and deadly disease that has infected several millions of individuals in high and low-resource countries. This study examined the media reportage of hepatitis disease as well as the perception of Nigerians on the awareness and knowledge of the disease. This study was anchored on the Health Belief Model (HBM), which explains how attitude of individuals can be influenced by media and health communication messages. This study adopted a dual research method that made use of survey and content analysis to achieve the objectives of the study. The results indicated that 53.3% of the respondents had been previously informed about the hepatitis disease, with only 62 people getting to know through the mainstream media (television, radio and newspaper) and 42 people were informed through the internet (the new media). The study further revealed that just 55 stories were published in duo years of 2015 and 2016 by four national newspapers in Nigeria. This study recommends that the media in Nigeria need to urgently align with the Health Belief Model (HBM) by positively affecting the perception of the people to live a sensitive and conscious life against the hepatitis disease.