Newspaper Portrayals of Maternal Health in South-western Nigeria: An Indicator of Political Priority for Safe Motherhood

Government communication is crucial for building public support for policies and achieving good governance outcomes. This study assessed maternal health portrayals in newspaper sponsored by or originating from sub-national governments as a measure of political priority for maternal mortality reduction in Southwestern, Nigeria. Maternal health messages published in newspapers over a 7-year period on Ekiti, Ondo and Osun States selected by the 'most similar case' technique, were assessed based on frequency, prominence, slant and sponsorship of reportage. Ondo and Ekiti States had the highest (64.6%) and the lowest (16.4%) number of mentions respectively on raising awareness about maternal health and related programmes. In addition, the highest positive (95%) and negative (50%) news slant were recorded for Ondo and Osun State respectively. Also, Ondo, Ekiti and Osun State governments sponsored 77.5%, 61.5% and 26.7% of all maternal health newspaper portrayals on their states respectively. There were significant differences in the frequency (z=152.425; p=0.001), slant (z=295.394; p=0.001) and sponsorship of reportage (z=142.211; p=0.001) of maternal health messages across the States. Ondo State government demonstrated significantly greater political priority for safe motherhood with respect to newspapers reportages compared to Ekiti and Osun States. The significant decline in maternal mortality in Ondo State is positively associated with increased government sponsored/sourced press portrayal of maternal health. National and sub-national governments' efforts should comprise, as a matter of priority, communication for safe motherhood if Nigeria is to facilitate progress in the goal to improve maternal health.