Abstract

Pregnancy induces in most women ill health, and may also result in maternal mortality which is the death of a woman during or shortly after delivery. Documented facts showed that Nigeria has the second highest rate of maternal death in the world. In recognition of urgent need to tackle this problem, the fifth objective in the Millennium Development Goal that ended in 2015 was to reduce maternal mortality. Based on the little achievement obtained in this aspect especially in Africa, the issue of maternal mortality reduction still retains global attention as the newly instituted Sustainable Development Goal‟s emphasis is on how to reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100 live birth by 2030. Premised on this is the need to make useful maternal health information available through the mass media especially, the radio. In the light of possible lacuna that may occur between message delivery and receptivity, the study evaluated the effectiveness of radio health messages in the campaign against maternal mortality in Ogun state Nigeria. This is with a view to determining the access, exposure, comprehension and compliance of pregnant women to the maternal health information they obtained from the radio. Survey design was utilised. Theoretically framed with the, Diffusion of Innovation, the research settings were six local government areas in Ogun state, Nigeria. For data, 1500 respondents were sampled using multistage cluster sampling technique. This was done to ensure equal tribal representation of the research subjects from whom information for data analysis were collected. Findings revealed that, despite access, understanding of contents and perceived benefits from health messages, most of the respondents did not adopt innovations they got through Radio. The study concludes by advocating for a synergy between the mass media and other sources of information on maternal health towards the adoption of live saving innovations.