Abstract

Awareness of health problems within certain community is one of the factors that could help in the management of such health issues. Apart from assisting in identifying risk factors, it is also a sure way of ensuring that management plans are effortlessly embraced by members of the community. To this end, this study, titled: assessment of awareness of HIV/AIDS prevalence among the residents and health workers in Oke-Ogun area of Oyo state examines the level of information possessed by residents of the study area on HIV/AIDS alongside its prevalence. This awareness is no doubt important in the management process of the virus considered to be relatively high in Oke-Ogun compared to other zones in Oyo state. The study is a combination of qualitative and quantitative design. In-depth interview and survey were adopted methods to answer four research questions set. Findings show that people of the study area are aware of the prevalence of the virus in Oke-Ogun, they exhibited adequate knowledge of HIV/AIDS, and adjudged health messages from health workers as credible, which aids high reliance from members of the area.

Key Words: HIV/AIDS, Awareness, Prevalence, Health Workers, Oke-Ogun.

^JCMR Journal of Communication and Media Research, Vol. 14, No. 1, April 2022, pp. 152-161

© Association of Media and Communication Researchers of Nigeria (AMCRON).

About the authors

*      Surajudeen Dayo Ogunsola is a Senior Reporter with the Nigerian Television Authority, Abuja. He holds a Master’s Degree in Mass Communication from Kwara State University, Malete, Kwara State, Nigeria. His research interests are health communication, broadcast and new media.

**    Kamaldin Abdulsalam Babatunde, Ph.D. is a lecturer in the Department of Mass Communication, Kwara State Univeristy, Malete, Kwara State, Nigeria. He graduated from University of Al-Azhar, Cairo,Egypt, where he got his B.A in Mass communication and M.A in Public relations and Advertising before proceeding to University of Malaya,.Kuala Lumpur where he bagged his PhD in Advertising. His research interests are media effect, Public relations, Marketing Communication, Consumer psychology.

***   Isiaka Zubair Aliagan holds a PhD in Print Journalism from Universiti Sains Malaysia and a PhD in History from University of Ilorin. He is currently a Senior Lecturer and Acting Dean, Faculty of Information and Communication Technology at Kwara State University, Malete, Nigeria. His main research interests include print journalism, press and politics, new media technologies, social networking media, newspaper political economy.

Article Citation

Ogunsola, S.D., Babatunde, K.A. & Aliagan, I.Z. (2022). Assessment of awareness of HIV/AIDS prevalence among residents and health workers in Oke-Ogun area of Oyo State, Nigeria. Journal of Communication and Media Research, 14 (1): 152 – 161.

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