Advocacy and Mobilizing for Health Policy Change: Ghanaian News Media's Framing of a Prescription Opioid Crisis.

In Ghana, the year 2018 saw many news articles about the youth, market women, and students increasingly abusing two opioids: tramadol and codeine-containing cough syrups. Our study examines Ghanaian news media framing of the opioid abuse crisis in Ghana to determine if and how the amount and framing of media coverage may have helped push the issue onto the policy agenda. We content analyzed all available online versions of print media coverage of news stories about tramadol and or codeine coverage in Ghana. Findings revealed the predominant and consistent use of the policy frame, societal attribution of responsibility, reliance on expert sources, and the inclusion of mobilizing information. We argue that the news media's talk about the health crisis as a policy issue might not only offer specific solutions, but also perform an advocacy function by mobilizing various stakeholders as conversation partners to act.