The aim of the study was to undertake a critical assessment of the effect of social marketing as a tool for discouraging the patronage of “quack” traditional birth attendants (TBAs) by women in developing countries, exemplified by Cross River State, Nigeria. It was targeted at determining the extent the application of social marketing traditional marketing-mix variables of product, price, promotion and place, can go in demarketing the patronage of quack TBAs by the women. Survey research design was employed for the study. The sample for the study was 367 which was derived using the Taro Yamane’s formula from a total population of 3,798 people encompassing health personnel, traditional birth attendants, pregnant and nursing mothers, including women within child bearing ages in three Local Government Areas of Cross River State in Nigeria (Akpabuyo, Calabar Municipal, and Calabar-South). The stratified and systematic sampling was then used to segment, select and distribute questionnaire copies to women living within the chosen areas. Hypothesis was formulated and tested using Multiple Linear Regression analytical tools of SPSS (version 21). The results showed that a combined use of the social marketing traditional marketing-mix variables of product, price, promotion and place will significantly discourage the patronage of “quack” TBAs. However, promotion was found to have a more far-reaching effect.
Keywords: Quacks, Social Marketing, Traditional Birth Attendants
