Iwokwagh N¹* and Nyitse T<sup>2

1</sup>Department of Information and Media Technology Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria.
²Department of Mass Communication Bingham University, Karu, Nigeria.

Environmental Health Issues (EHI’s) are increasingly and exponentially gaining global currency in public health. According to a Joint Monitoring Programme Report, lack of access to clean water and basic sanitation affects more than 2.6 billion people globally, and kills more children than malaria, HIV/AIDS and TB combined. The report also provides that 4,000 children under the age of five die every day globally, from preventable illnesses such as diarrhoea, typhoid, cholera and dysentery, with Nigeria contributing at least 10 every day. Studies have also shown that Nigerian cities are witnessing high rates of environmental degradation, and are rated among urban areas with lowest liveability index in the world. It has been argued that environmental problems are mostly due to developmental processes and are of local, regional and global effects. These effects are consequences of human activities, and are most often, harmful on human beings, livelihoods, animals and plant lives. Accordingly, poor sanitation, flooding, desertification, oil pollution from spills, industrial pollution and improper management of municipal solid waste among others have been identified as critical environmental problems in Nigeria. Of these problems, poor sanitation has been identified as the most prevalent environmental problem facing Nigeria as a nation. As reported by UNICEF, Nigeria loses N455 billion annually or 1.3% of its GDP due to poor sanitation. According to the report, 33 million Nigerians defecate in the open, depositing about 1.7 tons of faeces into the environment annually. The direct consequence of this, the report notes is high morbidity and mortality ratio due to sanitation related diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery and typhoid. It observes that children under five are the most vulnerable to the effects of poor sanitation and hygiene, with an estimated 200,000 dying annually due to diarrhoea. The report also notes that about 240,000 young children die in the country annually from respiratory infections that are induced by poor sanitation practices. However, in spite of its pervasiveness, environmental health issues are yet to be placed on the front burner of social discourse in Nigeria as a public health problem. This is where the media come in, and where media engagement becomes critical; the argument being that the media may be used as tools to help activists and government raise awareness and implement programmes on this issue. Consequently, the following strategies were proposed as intervention measures: collaboration and network building between the relevant stakeholders improvement of research collaboration and competencies, consistent prominence (cover page treatment) on environmental health issues, formulation of a media philosophy that will regulate coverage of environmental issues, equipping journalists with the knowledge and skills required to cover environmental issues effectively, integration of oramedia for mobilising rural dwellers for healthy environmental habits.

Key words: Environment, health, environmental health, communication, media.