Improving health care access for people with disabilities in Nigeria

Across the world, BBC Media Action works with media and communication partners in support of trustworthy information – tackling misinformation, bridging divides, strengthening community resilience, and inspiring discussion on important everyday issues.

Our Inclusive Family Planning for People with Disabilities project aims to increase awareness of sexual and reproductive health and rights among adolescent girls and young women with disabilities in Kaduna and Borno states in Nigeria, helping them make informed family planning choices and empowering them to access counselling and services.

Maria Ochefije, a journalist at Invicta FM radio station in Kaduna, northern Nigeria, took part in the project’s local media practitioner training. The training aimed to equip radio station staff with the skills and knowledge to produce programmes that challenge stigma and stereotypes, and authentically represent people with disabilities.

Maria said that information on family planning for people with disabilities was not readily available, and through her radio programmes, she wanted to increase local knowledge and shift negative attitudes in the community. “There are some traditional beliefs and some religious restrictions, which have stopped a wide range of people from welcoming [family planning advice] in their time,” she said.

The project also helped the trainees build their journalism skills – from generating content and scripting to reporting sensitively on difficult topics and approaching interviewees with empathy.

Maria worked as a producer at the radio station, where she conducted research, identified guests to interview, and travelled to meet people with disabilities to hear their stories and share information.

When her story aired on radio, listeners sent in messages and questions related to family planning and asked to hear more about their work in the next episode.

“It was about getting the message out,” Maria said. She added that after the story aired, healthcare providers reported a rise in people with disabilities seeking advice on family planning, who had previously felt that family planning wasn’t for them.

“But now the entire understanding of it has changed – there’s more knowledge, so the response is way better than it used to be,” she said. "It was very rewarding to see how we could be part of positive change in the environment, to hear it’s taking off and working out."

Maria said she still faces limitations as a journalist in Nigeria, especially around access to reliable information. “We don’t have the freedom some other parts of the world do,” she said.

Maria said that for her, press freedom means “notifying the public, giving them day to day information about the country and seeing honesty in the media”. In future, Maria hopes to help people in her community feel seen and heard. She said that she will also look for opportunities to do that for more communities.

“I’d really like an opportunity to affect change – those kinds of opportunities that open me to growth, challenges the genius within me and helps me to become better, both in spoken and written form.”

Our Inclusive Family Planning for People with Disabilities project, which runs from December 2021 to December 2025, is funded by FCDO as part of a consortium led by Sightsavers.