94 | Page Awareness and Utilization of Television Health Messages by Youth in Abia State, Nigeria Onuoha L.U. and Kalu U. 1 Department of Agricultural Extension/ Rural Sociology, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Nigeria lazarus2080@yahoo.com _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Abstract The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) sponsored some health messages on national television. This paper examined the awareness and utilization of television health messages by youth in Abia State Nigeria. The major objective of the study was to determine the effectiveness of utilizing television health messages by youth in the State. The specific objectives were to determine the effectiveness of television in disseminating health information, determine the credibility of the source of the message. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 170 youths, comprising both male and female respondents. Descriptive statistics were employed in analyzing the data. A grand mean of 2.55 indicating a high level of television usage was recorded. Majority (98.8%) were aware of NAFDAC, (69.4%) were aware of the health messages being put across by NAFDAC while 43.5% accepted that they knew the full meaning of NAFDAC. It was also observed that majority (56.5%) of the respondents did not know the full meaning of NAFDAC (National Agency for Food and Drug Administration Control) and only (39.9%) of the respondents were able to recall the message of the advert aired on TV. Finding also showed a low level of reported cases of products without NAFDAC number and expired date represented with a mean score of 1.94 for pure water and 1.98 for drugs. Conclusively it was recommended that NAFDAC should endeavor to provide security numbers not only for drugs but also for packaged foods and water where people could report cases of adulterated products, not having NAFDAC number, or dates of production. Keywords: Utilization, Television, Health Message, Youth, NAFDAC _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Introduction Television is an audio visual electronic device that has remained popular in virtually every society. Akinfeleye (2008) stated that television has an overriding impact on the behavior of its target audience. This according to him is because of the medium’s audio-visual power of disseminating messages. In similar vein, Omolose (2009) described television as a tremendous force for good as it can educate great numbers of people about the world around them; show us how much we have in common with our neighbors, near and far and shed light on the dark corners, where ignorance and hatred fester. “Television has long served as a source of information for viewers on health-related topics Christenson et.al. (2006). Television news, clearly, often contains information on personal health and health care policies. But in addition, “entertainment shows including soap operas, and dramas often include content that, whether intentionally or not, communicate health messages to viewers”. Similarly, due to its powers of imprinting messages on the mind, this medium performs an important function in dealing with social change especially attitudinal change that could bring about healthy living (Abone, 2008). In Nigeria many of our health care centers lack the modern and requisite facilities for treating the people. The problem of counterfeit drugs and food has led many to their early grave and many factors are responsible for this unfortunate scenario. Based on this situation, the Federal Government of Nigeria saddled the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration with the responsibility of controlling fake and poisonous food. In the course of discharging their duty, the organization launched campaigns on television highlighting the possible dangers of counterfeit drugs and food through the use of jingles/advertisements, television documentaries and special reports. The agency airs versions of its advertisements/jingles on the Nigeria Television Authority. These campaigns are usually aired during the prime time and network belt of the station. This study therefore investigated the effectiveness of this medium in communicating the health messages to public. The objectives of the study were to determine the credibility of the source of the message, determine the effectiveness of television in disseminating health information and factors affecting television health messages. Journal of Community and Communication Research ISSN (Online): xxxx-xxxx, ISSN (Print): xxxx-xxxx www.sccdr.org. Volume 1, No. 1 June. 2016. Pp. 94-99 _____________________________________________________________________________________