Africa Media Review Vol. 1. No. 2. 1987 
© African Council on Communication Education 
Sources of Health Information 
Among Rural Dwellers in Africa: 
A Case Study of Two Ghanaian 
Abstract 
Villages 
by Kwadwo Bosompra* 
This paper examines the use, in Primary Health Care, of such 
information channels as conversation, the town crier, the market 
place, churches, schools,health officers, and the radio. The case 
study on which this paper is based showed that conversation was 
the most popular but least trusted source of health information. 
Radio came second both in terms of popularity and credibility, 
whereas the health officer was ranked third in popularity but first 
in credibility. Further, the study revealed that the awareness level 
of the respondents was generally low, and practical use of the 
knowledge acquired was minimal. On the basis of these findings, 
the paper questions the ubiquitousness of such traditional 
channels as the town crier, the market and folk theatre in rural 
communication systems. 
Cet article passe en revue l'usage, dans les soins de sante'primaires, 
de canaux d'information tels que la conversation, le crieur public, 
la place du marche', les eglises. les ecoles, les agents de sante'et la 
radio. L'tftude des cas sur laquelle est basee l'article a montre'que la 
conversation est la plus populaire mais la moins sure des sources 
d'information de sante. La radio est classed seconde en termes de 
populatite'et de creclibilite' alors que l'agent de sante se trouve en 
troisieme position en matiere de popularity mais en tete en 
crddibilite'. Par ailleurs, l'etude a revele que le niveau de conscience 
des personnes interrogees e'tait ge'ne'ralement bas et que 
l'utllisation pratique des connaisances acquises e'taient 
minimales. Sur la base de ces conclusions, l'article remet en 
question la toute puissance des canaux traditionnels comme le 
crieur public, le marche' et le theatre dans les systemes de 
communication ruraux. 
'Mr. Kwadwo Bosompra is a Lecturer at School of Communication Studies, 
University of Ghana, Legon. 
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