Zambia Demographic and Health Survey 2001-2002 - Measure DHS

Figure 3.1 Youth Literacy100 Percentage literate Women Men80607159 59834020015-19 20-24Age groupZDHS 2001-20023.4 ACCESS TO MASS MEDIAThe 2001-2002 ZDHS collected information on the exposure of respondents to the various commonprint and electronic media. Respondents were asked how often they read a newspaper, listened to theradio, or watched television in a week. This information is useful in determining the media channels touse in disseminating family planning and health services to target audiences.Table 3.4 shows distinct patterns of exposure to different forms of mass media. The highest proportionof respondents (44 percent of women and 65 percent of men) listen to the radio at least once aweek, followed by one in four women and one in three men who watch television once a week. It is apparentthat print media is least utilised by both women and men. This is particularly true for women(11 percent) compared with men (24 percent).Comparison between the 1996 ZDHS and 2001-2002 ZDHS reveals a general decline in mediause for both women and men. The decline is more pronounced for the print media, which could be explainedby the declining economic situation in the country. The Living Conditions Monitoring Survey(LCMS) data for 1998 indicate that poverty levels have remained high (with 73 percent of the populationbeing poor), indicating a possible squeeze on the respondents’ purchasing power. Chances are that withless money, a larger proportion of expenditures are directed towards food-related purchases.Table 3.4 indicates that more than half of women have no access to any type of media, comparedwith about one-third of men. Women and men in rural areas have substantially lower access to all formsof media (less than 3 percent for both) than their urban counterparts (16 percent and 39 percent, respectively).It is apparent from Table 3.4 that education has a major impact on access to any of the specifiedmedia. For instance, weekly reading of a newspaper by women increases from a negligible proportion(under 1 percent) among those with no education to 65 percent among women with higher education. Asimilar pattern prevails for men, although, with generally higher proportions than women at all educationlevels.Characteristics of Respondents │ 31