What question did this study set out to answer?

The study aims to explore how mothers’ media exposure influences child health outcomes in Cameroon.

January 25, 2026Open Access

Mothers’ Exposure to the Media and Its Effect on Child Health in Cameroon

Key Points

The study aims to explore how mothers’ media exposure influences child health outcomes in Cameroon.
Utilized survey data from the 2018 Cameroonian Demographic and Health Survey (CDHS)
Employed Probit regression analysis to assess determinants of media exposure and child health
Analyzed variables including household membership, place of residence, and education levels regarding media ownership
Higher household membership negatively impacts mothers’ media exposure for television and mobile phones
Living in rural areas positively influences television ownership but negatively affects mobile phone ownership
Increased education correlates positively with media ownership for mothers
Frequent television watching significantly improves child health outcomes
Regular internet use also shows a positive effect on child health at a 10% significance level

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the determinants of mothers’ exposure to the media and examine its effect on child health in Cameroon. Data was obtained through a survey from the Cameroonian Demographic and Health survey (CDHS) 2018. The study employed a Probit regression to examine the determinants of mothers’ exposure to the media and its effect on child health in Cameroon. The results from this analysis revealed that, an increase in the household membership negatively and significantly affects mothers’ exposure to the media for those having a Television (-0.0391) and those having mobile phones (-0.0426). Also, those living in the rural area with regards to place of residence shows a positive significant effect (0.7689) as concerns television ownership and a negative significant effect (-0.3404) for mobile phone ownership. Households having electricity depicts a significant negative and positive effect respectively with regards to television (-1.0727) and mobile phone (0.6185) ownership. Being more educated as per the different categories of education shows a positive statistically significant effect on mother’s exposure to the media as compared to not being educated for both television and mobile phone ownership. The results equally revealed that, the frequency of listening to the radio and watching a television more than once a week had a positive effect on child’s health as compared to not listening to the radio or watching Television at all (0.113 and 0.495 respectively), though statistically significant only for watching television. The frequent use of the internet (at least once a week) had a positive statistically significant effect on child’s health in Cameroon at 10%, with a coefficient of 0.337. From the results, we recommend that, the government should prioritize improving access to electricity in households across Cameroon, especially in underserved areas and also implement programs that promote maternal education and media literacy to increase awareness of health-related media messages.

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