Lassa fever awareness and knowledge among community residents in Ondo State, Nigeria

Background: The Lassa fever outbreak in Ondo State in 2018 recorded high morbidity and mortality. This study was conducted to assess awareness and knowledge of Lassa fever preventive measures among community residents in the affected areas in order to guide risk communication interventions. Methods: A community-based descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in six affected Local Government Area (LGAs), involving heads of households selected using a multistage sampling technique. A structured pre-tested questionnaire was administered to 2992 consenting study participants and data was analysed using IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20.0. Results: Over three quarters 2, 537 (84.8%) of respondents were aware of Lassa fever of which 2, 363 (93.1%) knew that multimammate rat transmits the disease to humans. Also, 1804 (71.1%) knew that washing hands regularly could prevent the disease. However, only 845 (33.3%) of the respondents who reported awareness of the disease knew that cooking all foods properly before eating could prevent the disease. The predictors of good knowledge of Lassa fever were being a female (p= 0.017), having secondary or tertiary education (p=0.001), and currently married or divorced (p=0.01). Conclusion: A high level of awareness, but inadequate knowledge of some preventive measures of Lassa fever were observed among community members. Risk communication messages should focus more on preventive measures of the disease targeting young males with low education in these LGAs, the epicentres of the outbreak

Lassa fever awareness and knowledge among community residents in Ondo State, Nigeria

Background: The Lassa fever outbreak in Ondo State in 2018 recorded high morbidity and mortality. This study was conducted to assess awareness and knowledge of Lassa fever preventive measures among community residents in the affected areas in order to guide risk communication interventions. Methods: A community-based descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in six affected Local Government Area (LGAs), involving heads of households selected using a multistage sampling technique. A structured pre-tested questionnaire was administered to 2992 consenting study participants and data was analysed using IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20.0. Results: Over three quarters 2, 537 (84.8%) of respondents were aware of Lassa fever of which 2, 363 (93.1%) knew that multimammate rat transmits the disease to humans. Also, 1804 (71.1%) knew that washing hands regularly could prevent the disease. However, only 845 (33.3%) of the respondents who reported awareness of the disease knew that cooking all foods properly before eating could prevent the disease. The predictors of good knowledge of Lassa fever were being a female (p= 0.017), having secondary or tertiary education (p=0.001), and currently married or divorced (p=0.01). Conclusion: A high level of awareness, but inadequate knowledge of some preventive measures of Lassa fever were observed among community members. Risk communication messages should focus more on preventive measures of the disease targeting young males with low education in these LGAs, the epicentres of the outbreak

Ownership of mobile phones and willingness to receive childhood immunisation reminder messages among caregivers of infants in Ondo State, south-western Nigeria

Background. The timely completion of the childhood immunisation schedule for children under the age of 1 year by caregivers is key to reducing the high morbidity and mortality of vaccine-preventable diseases among infantsglobally.Objective. To determine the ownership of mobile phones among caregivers of children under the age of 1 year, their knowledge about immunisation service delivery and willingness to receive childhood immunisation schedule reminder messages in Ondo State, south-western Nigeria.Method. A descriptive cross-sectional study using semi-structured interviewer-administered questionnaires was conducted with 615 caregivers of infants, who brought their children to clinics conducting immunisation in 24 health facilities in rural, semi-urban and urban settlements in Ondo State in December 2014.Results. The mean (standard deviation, SD) age of respondents was 28.49 (6.01) years, 76.7% were Yoruba, 91.4% were married and living with their spouses and 4.2% were single. Mobile phone ownership was 74.5% among rural-based respondents, and 95.8% among urbanbased.Forty-six percent of the respondents had good knowledge of immunisation, vaccine-preventable diseases and vaccination schedules,while 27.5% had poor knowledge. The majority of the respondents (99.7%) were willing to receive childhood immunisation reminder messages on their mobile phones. About 50% of the respondents preferred to receive reminder messages at any time, rather than specific times. The most preferred language for reminders was English (54.5%). Residing in an urban area and having post-secondary education were predictors of mobile phone ownership.Conclusion. The high mobile phone ownership level, and the willingness of caregivers of infants in this study area to receive immunisation schedule reminder messages, is encouraging, and should be optimised to improve routine immunisation uptake. However, caregivers of infants in rural areas need to be provided with mobile phone support, and trained in their usage in order to benefit from such an intervention in childhood immunisation

Measles Case-based Surveillance and Outbreak Response in Nigeria; An Update for Clinicians and Public Health Professionals

The Federal Ministry of Health recommendations for response during measles epidemics in Nigeria previously focused on case management using antibiotics and Vitamin. A supplements and did not include outbreak response immunization (ORI) campaigns. However; with the revision of the existing national technical guideline on measles case based surveillance and outbreak response in Nigeria in 2012 in line with the World Health Organization recommendation on response to measles outbreak in measles mortality reduction settings; there is a need to update members of the Nigerian public health community on these revisions to ensure appropriate implementation and compliance. This article therefore seeks to provide clinicians and other public health professionals in Nigeria with updates on recent developments in measles case-based surveillance and outbreak response in Nigeria