EFFECTIVENESS OF COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGNS IN THE SUSTENANCE OF OPEN DEFECTION-FREE SOCIETY

A STUDY OF UGEP COMMUNITY IN CROSS RIVER STATE

Abstract

This paper focuses on the role of communication campaigns in sustaining an open defecation–free community. The population was drawn from the four wards in Ugep Local Government Area of Cross River State. Questionnaires were administered to 80 respondents and eight volunteer health  communicators were interviewed. Findings showed that most of the respondents attended sensitisation programmes which led to some community members abandoning the practice of open-defecation; and that many of them have toilets and do not defecate in the open, while about a quarter of the respondents still defecate in the open because they lack information on the dangers of such practice. The study recommended that continuous communication campaign should be used to sensitise the public on the need to stop open defecation; while volunteer health communicators should sensitise children on the dangers of open defecation since the study showed that many of them still engage in this act.