DOCUMENTATION, DISSEMINATION AND UTILIZATION OF INFORMATION ON INDIGENOUS MEDICINAL KNOWLEDGE FOR IMPROVED HEALTH OF THE TIV RURAL COMMUNITIES OF BENUE STATE, NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

This study focuses on documentation, dissemination and utilization of information on indigenous medicinal knowledge for improved health of the Tiv rural communities of Benue state. It sought to find out among other things, the relevant demographic characteristics, the form of documenting indigenous medicinal knowledge (IMK) of the Tiv medicinal practitioners, the extent to which libraries document the Tiv indigenous medicinal knowledge (IMK), methods used by libraries in disseminating information, extent of information dissemination and extent of utilizing information resources. It also investigated constraints and strategies that can be adopted to overcome these constraints. Ten research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The study employed descriptive survey design and area of studyis Benue state. The population of the study consists of 3,326 indigenous medicinal practitioners and library staff. The sample size of 326 indigenous medicinal practitioners and 32 library staff were drawn from the population which summed up to the total of 358 respondents. Purposive sampling and proportionate stratified random sampling techniques were used. The instruments for data collection were: questionnaire with 106 items titled “Documentation, Dissemination and Utilization of Information on Indigenous Medicinal Knowledge for Improved Health of the Tiv Rural Communities of Benue state (DDUIMKIHQ)”, Key Informant Interview Schedule(KIIS) and Focus Group Discussion Session (FGDS). The instruments were subjected to face validationby three (3) experts, two from Library and Information Science Department and one (1) from the Department of Science Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The internal consistency of the instruments were determined using Cronchbach Alpha technique and a grand reliability co-efficient of 0.96 was established as suitable therefore, the instruments were adopted for the study. With the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) data from the questionnaire was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics such as mean, standard deviation, table, simple percentages, frequencies, bar and pie chartswhile qualitative data was analyzed through content analysis. Student t-test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. It was discovered that, both genders were involved in the Tiv indigenous medicinal practices however, males gender dominated the Tiv rural health sector. There was a high level of illiteracy but, a handful of theTiv medicinal practitioners had formal education that cut across all levels. Also,the Tiv medicinal practitioners documented information using oral narration, people’s memories and physical objects.There was low extent of information documentation on the Tiv indigenous medicinal knowledge by libraries in the study area. It was also revealed that libraries of the study adopted different methods of disseminating information to the Tiv rural communities such as discussion forum and rural libraries. The Tiv medicinal practitioners disseminate information through word of mouth, marketing, vibrant practices and through patients. They utilized information resources available in the librariesto a low extent. Constraints such as inadequate funding, individualistic nature of indigenous knowledge, intellectual property right, inadequate information resources and paucity of rural librariesinhibited documentation, dissemination and utilization of information on Tiv indigenous medicinal knowledge. Strategies such as adequate funding, implementation of laws to protect indigenous medicinal knowledge and establishment of adult literacy classes were advanced. It was recommended that, adequate funds should be provided to libraries, the government should ensure implementation of intellectual property law on indigenous medicinal knowledge and the establishment of rural libraries should be ensured.