Press Coverage of Maternal Health Issues in Selected Nigerian Newspapers

Abstract

This paper is an assessment of the Nigerian Press coverage of Maternal Health issues as 
the fifth goal of the Millennium Development of Goals (MDGs). It examined and analysed 
282 editions of The Guardian, New Nigerian, ThisDay, and Daily Trust newspapers from 
2001-2007 to measure their contributions in terms of coverage towards the achievement 
of the MGDs. The findings revealed that the selected newspapers reported issues of 
Maternal Health. However, the coverage was significantly low with 206 reports recorded 
by the 4 selected publications over a period of 7 years. In addition, prominence was not 
given to the coverage of Maternal Health issues and most reports carried were negative 
stories which may explain why the Maternal Health goal was not achieved in 2015 as 
planned. The MDGs final report (2015) identified gabs in the achievement of the MDGs 
in general and the Maternal Health goal in particular and has forged to include it in a 
bold vision of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030. This study 
therefore recommends that the press should partner with national development goals and 
give consistent coverage of Maternal Health issues in order to facilitate its achievement. 
Prominence should also be given to its coverage; and the Nigerian Union of Journalists 
(NUJ) as a professional body should re-orient and charge its members on the importance 
of development news reporting and reporting the Maternal Health in order to contribute 
in curbing the menace of maternal mortality and morbidity in Nigeria.