Impact of Radio Campaigns on Knowledge of Childhood Stunting among Parents of Hausa Extraction in Lagos State, Nigeria

Background: Parental level of education and maternal eating habits of parents greatly impact toddlers’ health status. A total of 155 million children under the age of 5 years suffer stunting worldwide. Africa is the only continent where the issues of stunting increase from 50.6 million to 58.7 million between 2000 and 2017. Objectives: This study is designed to investigate the factors that impact the effectiveness of radio campaigns on stunted growth of children, understand the attitude of Hausa women to radio childhood stunting campaigns and to know the barriers to the effectiveness of radio campaigns against stunting in select areas of Lagos State. Methods: Paired depth interview and survey method were used to investigate the effectiveness of radio childhood stung campaigns among Hausa women in Lagos State. Results: Findings showed that parental level of education is a major factor in the success or failure of radio childhood stunting campaigns. Findings also showed that Hausa women have a negative attitude to radio childhood stunting messages in Lagos State. Conclusion: Policies that are aimed at bridging the wide gaps of wealth and educational inequalities between the rich and the vulnerable households must be formulated by governments at all levels, especially at the grassroots level Key Contributions: This study has presented another vista to medical and communication researchers with regard to effectiveness of house-to-house enlightenment campaigns and health facility-based counselling against child stunting. Key Recommendation: It is recommended that Collaborative efforts and prevention programmes should be established among various stakeholders to improve the education of vulnerable parents to decrease the incident of stunting among children in Lagos State.