The Role of Community Radio in Creating Awareness on Health Issues: A Case Study of Pamoja FM’s Linda Mama Delivery Program

Abstract

Community radio has globally been used to create awareness on a range of topical issues,
including political awareness, education, crime, safety, human rights, and health
communication. Accordingly, against the backdrop of low uptake in slum communities largely
attributed to its low awareness levels coupled with paucity of literature, this study set out to
assess the role of community radio in creating awareness on health issues with reference to
Pamoja FM particularly concerning Linda Mama Delivery programme. Anchored on the health
belief model, this study took the descriptive design, employing a mix of both qualitative and
quantitative techniques. The target population was all 56,406 resident women in Kibra subcounty. Using the Yamane (1967) formula, the determined sample size was 100 resident mothers,
who were selected by the snowball sampling technique. A semi-structured questionnaire was
used. Results indicate that a majority of the residents of Kibra sub-county are highly aware of
the various aspects of the Linda Mama programme (ẋ=4.000; SD=0.915). The study found that
the community radio in Kibra sub-county carries out Linda Mama awareness campaigns through
a number of practices and avenues (ẋ=4.182; SD=0.829). It was further found that generally, a
majority of Kibra sub-county residents (ẋ=4.126; SD=0.769) have a positive perception towards
messages on the Linda Mama programme as communicated by community radio. The study also
found that to a great extent (ẋ=4.022; SD=0.858), awareness creation of the Linda Mama
programme by community radio has influenced its uptake in Kibra sub-county. It is concluded
that the awareness campaign practices used by Pamoja FM; and the positive perception towards
messages on the Linda Mama programme as communicated by community radio have been
effective in creating awareness on the Linda Mama programme among residents of Kibra subcounty, leading to its uptake. It is therefore recommended that community radio ownership and
management in the country invest in awareness campaigns using such practices and avenues as
the use of open-air show, adverts, daily programs, expert interviews, news bulletin and debate to
effectively create awareness on various health issues.
Keywords: Awareness Campaigns, Awareness Creation, Community Radio, Linda Mama
programme