Streotyping Femininity and Masculinity in Television Drama Shows

The world deals with the issue of stereotypes in every area and every way of life, from gender, race, tribe, to religious affiliation. This is amplified when media comes into play. Television drama series has far reaching effects on the viewers' perceptions of social issues in every culture and society. This is because the television drama series construct a reality that the viewers believe to be true or ideal. The purpose of this study was assessing of Papa Shirandula TV drama in stereotyping femininity and masculinity on the viewers in Kakamega. This research was carried out among the residents of Kakamega municipality who are audiences of Papa Shirandula TV show. The results show that femininity was portrayed in terms of a woman being a housewife, homemaker, and mother—ignorant, inferior, emotional, and dependent on men—while masculinity was portrayed in terms of a man being a breadwinner, head of family, superior, non-emotional, independent, and decision maker.

Media Awareness Preferences for Information on Sickle Cell Disorder Among University Students in Southwestern Nigeria

Sickle cell disorder (SCD) is a defective blood disorder that causes pain associated with blood genotypes of victims who risk dying before their 30th birthday. SCD is best controlled when victims avoid getting married to one another to prevent the spread of susceptible genotype. Many youths lack basic facts of SCD. For long, its awareness was limited to broadcast and print media. But today, social media platforms—Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and WhatsApp—are also used to create awareness on the disease. This study attempts to determine the preferred communication channels for creating awareness on SCD among university students in South-Western Nigeria. Survey research design was adopted. Respondents were 259 students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, and University of Ibadan, both in South-West Nigeria. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. Social media awareness was 51.6%, and conventional media was 48.4%. Thus, more of the respondents preferred awareness on SCD through social media platforms.

Social Media Alternative for Health Communication in Nigeria

In the changing media and health landscapes, health communication requires more ways to improve and sustain new practices for health advocacy. The same way global population is soaring, people are becoming more urbane, and these vicissitudes are accompanied by the need to access new forms of media to meet information needs. This chapter assesses social media relevance as an alternative tool for health communication and clearly established that social media holds an integral locus in the day-to-day activities of the people, the same way it has for health communication. The growing concern is for stakeholders who are government and non-government agencies actors like traditional rulers, faith-based organisations, and international bodies to adopt the use of social media as an alternative for health communication in Nigeria.

Digital Medical Care

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), every minute, at least one woman dies from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth, translating to about 585,000 women losing their lives each year due to child-birth-related complications. Modern information and communication technologies (ICTs) have a pivotal role to play in tackling health-related problems by empowering individuals and equipping decision makers with timely information about critical health issues. This study aimed to evaluate the appropriation of mobile phone applications in enhancing maternal-child health knowledge in rural areas in Kenya with special focus on Busia County. Findings indicated that mobile phone dissemination of maternal health knowledge has a possibility of accelerating access and utilisation of skilled facility services. Therefore, emerging technologies can offer real opportunities to communities by enabling them get reliable and timely information on maternal-child health issues.

An Assessment of the Effectiveness of Participatory Communication Strategies Used in Implementation of Public Water Projects in Rural Areas

Community involvement is a very important aspect in the implementation of any project. Without community buy-in, a project may never get off the ground or will not be accepted once it is completed. This study investigated participatory communication strategies used in implementation of public water projects in Murang'a County (Kenya). The study aimed to assess participatory communication strategies used in the implementation of public water projects in Muranga County. The results of the study indicated that community grouping (27.2%) was the most preferred method of involving the public in the implementation of the Northern Collector Project. The results further indicated that use of community groups was the most effective participatory communication strategy in implementation of Northern Collector Tunnel project. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics.

Developing the Leadership Potential of African Youth Through Online Communities

This chapter draws on the results of an explorative, qualitative study that investigated how online communities can facilitate civic engagement amongst Millennials. Based on the study's findings, the chapter explores how the use of online communities can assist and empower youth, particularly African young people, to overcome barriers, empower and foster civic engagement. This chapter begins with a review of key literature, and then a summary of the study methodology, followed by a discussion of the study findings and their potential for African youth. Results of the study indicated that five facilitating factors and two barriers were influential towards youth civic engagement in an online context. Adult perceptions of youth and the low credibility of online communities were found to act as significant barriers to online youth participation. Given these key findings from the study, the authors show how to employ online communities to engage African youth civic participation and decision making.

Dipo and the Adolescent Krobo Girl

Contemporary Christian/secular/social trends and beliefs about religion, the rights of women, and the privacy of their bodies have been used to challenge the Dangme people of Ghana's continued adherence to the Dipo puberty rite. Without judging the Dipo rite but focusing on its intended value systems, this research argues that contemporary societal problems can harness the beneficial qualities of various traditional rituals to help solve specific societal issues. This chapter sets out to explore how the value systems of a contested puberty rite like the Dangme people's Dipo can help address sexual health issues prevalent in the Dangme communities. This chapter discusses how repurposing of Dipo's existing educational platform and value systems can contribute to the eradication or reduction of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) such as the Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) epidemic among members of the Dangme tribes.

Framing Family Planning

Given the population explosion and high rate of maternal and infant mortality prevalent in many developing countries, family planning has been promoted as method of controlling the population growth and stemming the occurrence of these birth-related deaths with the mass media as the major campaign tools. This study examined the coverage of family planning-related news in selected Nigerian online newspapers from September 2017 to April 2019, measuring the presence of eight news frames. A quantitative content analysis of the stories revealed that family planning news frequently fell within the attribution of responsibility frame and solution frame. However, it was observed that not enough media attention was given to address misconceptions about family planning, and stories prompting readers to take action on family planning significantly outnumber stories that provided help-seeking information necessary to take such actions. The results provide important insights of how family planning news is reported in Nigerian newspapers.

Effect of Electronic Media Sources on Cervical Cancer Awareness Among Women in Kenya

This chapter is based on a study set out to investigate the influence of electronic media in creating awareness about cervical cancer among women in Kenya at the Kenyatta National Hospital. Transtheoretical stages of change and Health Belief Model guided the study. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics in line with the study objectives, while qualitative data was analyzed thematically. The study findings indicated that radio and television had not played a key role in creating awareness about cervical cancer as less than 20% of respondents reported to have received their information from radio and televisions while over 74% reported to have received their information from other sources other than radio and television. This was despite the fact that more than 90% of the respondents reported to own a radio and/or a television. The study concluded that cervical cancer prevention cannot be achieved through messages on traditional media such as radio and television. It therefore recommended a multi-sectoral approach by relevant stakeholders through other diverse strategies such as interpersonal communication.

Role of Journalists in Development

The Kenyan media is marked by an unpredictable and changing political, social, cultural, economic, and technological environment that has heavily influenced the professionalism of journalists. The journalistic work is being threatened by the political influences, the emergence of online journalism, and citizen journalism, which the journalists have no control over. The big dilemma is the seemingly declining professionalism of journalism. Given these contextual trends coupled with the structural changes in journalism as a practice, this chapter explores the professional autonomy of Kenyan journalists based on a study carried out in Nairobi County.