Nigerians Relate With Health Issues They Can Put A Face On - Dr. Juliet Offiah

Dr. Juliet Offiah, host of Health Matters with Dr. Julz radio talk show on Nigeria Info 99.3 FM in Lagos has told HealthNewsNG Nigerians relate more with health stories they can put a human face on irrespective of the issue being discussed. 

In an exclusive interview with HealthNewsNG the medical practitioner who hosts the popular radio health talk show at the Lagos-based radio station said the feedback from her listeners when health issues affecting popular individuals are discussed show Nigerians are attentive to any health topic being discussed as long as they can put a human face on it.

"From my experience on radio, people usually relate with topics you can put a human face on. It doesn't matter what you are talking about as far as it is relate-able they will give attention to it. Like for instance, recently, one of the guys in the music group, Bracket, was diagnosed with lymphoma and I had a topic on that. 

"When we lost Goldie, we also talked about hypertension and checking ourselves regularly. It's relevant to talk about stuffs but we have to get the people to listen just to make it interesting and relate with current happenings," Dr Julz said.

According to her, she always endeavor to get patients who are living with a particular condition to come on air and talk about living with the ailment.

She said: "Sometimes when we are lucky enough, we get a volunteer patient who will come into the studio and talk about what it feels like to have or experience a particular ailment. If we get such patients, it will relate better; not just somebody coming on air to talk about something he read up in a textbook or on the internet. This is somebody that has lived or is currently living with a condition."

She also decried the act of on-air health experts who claim to know it all.

"Another aspect of Health Matters with Dr Julz is the fact that I bring in health specialists as well. I'm not coming on radio and claim that I'm a guru and I know it all; I just try to enlighten people by talking to professionals and letting them know how important the case is, who to contact when they have a particular ailment," she said.

She also noted that many Nigerians only call for medical help when the condition has degenerated to the point where only a miracle is effective.

"It's so disturbing even for me as a doctor to be hearing cases that are so late, somebody that should have called me very early will now call when the condition has gotten so bad and they'll be expecting a miracle from the doctor. It doesn't work that way. We go on radio and we educate people about their health and the need for them to make better health choices," she told HealthNewsNG.