HIV/AIDS: Radio Dramas to Hit the Airwaves in Nigeria
The two radio soap operas designed to increase knowledge around family planning, HIV/AIDS, adolescent reproductive health, women’s education, and gender-based violence have finally hit the airwaves in Nigeria.
The programmes, which were written and produced by Population Media Center (PMC) including Tafigawalo (Working towards Change) in Pidgin, and Hannunka Mai Sanda (Power in your Hands) in Hausa, began broadcast on July 6, 2015.
This was contained in a statement signed by the PMC’s Country Representative in Nigeria Ephraim Okon who said that expanded broadcast is funded by a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
According to Okon, Tafigawalo is being broadcast on Treasure FM in Rivers State on Mondays and Tuesdays from 1:45 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. with repeats on Wednesdays and Sundays, and on DSBC FM (Melody FM) in Delta State on Mondays and Fridays from 4:45 p.m. to 5:00 p.m with repeats on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
He said that the Hannunka Mai Sanda is broadcast in three States: Zuma FM in Niger State on Mondays and Fridays at 7:30 a.m. with repeats on Wednesdays and Sundays; on Pride FM in the Zamfara State on 103.5 Gasau on Mondays and Tuesdays at 9:45 a.m. and repeats on Wednesdays and Thursdays beginning on July 13; and broadcast on Globe FM in Bauchi State starts on July 20 where listeners can tune in on Mondays and Wednesdays at 7:15 p.m or catch the repeat episodes on Fridays and Saturdays.
"Both programs were originally broadcast in 2014 in other states in the country. Listeners have resonated with these highly entertaining programs. Men and women listeners have told PMC how scenes from Tafigawalo in a variety of settings -- the home, the bar, and hospital -- were most meaningful to them", he stated.
The PMC’s Country Representative noted: “The expanded broadcast started with massive promotions on Sunday June 28, in Bauchi, Niger, Delta and Rivers States. This expansion will allow millions of additional listeners to benefit from the messages in the dramas. The new broadcast area includes 18 million additional people".
“The current crisis of kidnapped school girls in northern Nigeria is symptomatic of the low status of women and girls in all of Nigeria,” says Okon when discussing the importance of the programs.
In the same vein, the PMC’s Vice President for International Programs, Mr. Kriss Barker, said that they learned a lot during the first broadcast run of Tafigawalo and Hannunka Mai Sanda, "that we will use to make this broadcast even more dynamic and responsive to our listeners.
Also, PMC’s President, Mr. Bill Ryerson, said they have produced three other radio dramas in Nigeria with promising results.
According Ryerson, 67 percent of reproductive health clients in Ruwan Dare’s broadcast area named that PMC program as their motivation to seek health services in 2009.
"We’re pleased to have that kind of impact and are excited to partner with the MacArthur Foundation to continue build on the good work being done in Nigeria", he added.
The President emphasised that Tafigawalo and Hannunka Mai Sanda address some of Nigeria’s most pressing health and human rights concerns, such as family planning and obstetric fistula.
He revealed that only 14.1 percent of people in Nigeria say they use any form of contraception, and UNFPA estimates that anywhere from 100,000 to 1 million women suffer from obstetric fistula.
"Tafigawalo and Hannunka Mai Sanda also highlight the importance of girls’ education, which is critical when only 43 percent of Nigerian women obtain a secondary education. And Tafigawalo also addresses gender-based violence, an issue that is prevalent in Nigerian communities", he said.