Against the odds: exploring individuals' pushback mechanisms against commercialized football gambling.

Introduction: The need for money, the pursuit of pleasure, and the liberalized access to gambling have been documented in several pieces of literature as the drivers of gambling. Such drivers are predicated on commercialized gambling, leading to the growth of the gambling industry and constituting a structural influence that normalizes the activity among young people. Methods: Through a qualitative inquiry, this study investigates the social agentic factors of individuals who are susceptible to gambling. Fifteen non-gamblers were recruited across three commercial cities in Africa, namely Nairobi, Lagos, and Johannesburg. We first established the gambling susceptibility of the participants: their need for money, their passion for football, ownership of a smartphone, access to the internet, and exposure to football gambling marketing. Results: Consequently, we probed for their agency, which is indicative of why they do not gamble, despite being susceptible to engaging in the activity. Four major agentic factors were identified from the participants; knowledge of the industry's business model, conserving the integrity of football, identity of self, morality and/or religion model. Discussion: As such, these factors may be utilized to develop an intervention program for gamblers within the geographical context.

Gambling in Sub-Saharan Africa: Traditional Forms and Emerging Technologies.

Purpose of Review: The gambling industry in Africa has seen substantial growth and evolution over recent years with a growing body of literature describing these shifts. Here, we provide a narrative synthesis of the extant literature on the origins, trends and consequences of the expansion and intensification of the commercial gambling industry in sub-Saharan Africa with a reference for future research on gambling as a growing public health concern. Recent Findings: The historical shift and permeation of gambling in sub-Saharan Africa is diverse with evidence of certain countries following a neo-colonial logic. Advances in technology have made gambling more accessible and created new markets in Africa. A key motive driving gambling on the continent is a lack of stable employment. While the intensification and growth of Africa's gambling industry has brought economic benefits to some African investors and individuals, this has been accompanied by a range of gambling harms. Legislation and policies designed to better regulate the gambling industry and redress these harms are needed. In this context, a small number of services and campaigns designed to mitigate gambling harms demonstrate promise, but more research is needed in this area. Summary: The gambling industry in sub-Saharan Africa has undergone a dramatic transformation. While it is true that the growth of the African gambling industry has provided an additional revenue stream to governments, it is also necessary to acknowledge the concurrent rise in gambling addiction and the health-related and social harms that it elicits. As such, designing effective regulatory measures and policy interventions that can reduce the public health burden of gambling harms is vital. However, these interventions need to take in to account the significance of cultural differences that exist among countries on the continent.

Using SNSs for early detection of disease outbreak in developing countries: evidence from COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.

Developing countries, particularly Nigeria, continually find it challenging to proactively and actively carry out early-stage surveillance for disease outbreaks due to the lack of quality workforce, a dearth of public health data, and the absence of automated surveillance systems in the country. This study presents the potential and ability of Twitter in tracking early detection of COVID-19, monitoring the dissemination of information, and exploration of public awareness and attitudes among Nigerians. Tweets mentioning COVID-19 and related keywords were collected in 11 batches via the NCapture™ plugin available on Google Chrome from February 20 - May 6, 2020. The analysis includes a time series analysis to track the distribution of data and content analysis to analyze the knowledge and attitudes of Nigerians. A total of 67,989 tweets (1,484 unique and 66,505 retweets) citing COVID-19 and related keywords were returned. The Tweets started to emerge earlier to the first confirmed case in Nigeria while maintaining a dangling-upward movement up to the 11th week under study. Matters arising from the tweets include a dearth of information on COVID-19 and optimism among others. The results provide insight into the intersection of SNSs and public health surveillance. Results show how helpful Twitter is to educate education in public health. Health organizations and the government may benefit from paying attention to both amusing and emotional contents from the Twitter community to formulate a viable policy for treatment and control.

Perception of domestic violence among rural women in Kuje.

Domestic violence has become a global social problem affecting women and girls across different socio-demographics and culture. Often times a greater attention is paid to the experiences of urban women and girls to the detriment of their counter parts in rural areas who constituted major victims. The study explored the experiences, awareness and perception of domestic violence among rural women in Kuje, Nigeria. A total of 130 respondents were selected using stratified and simple random sampling technique. In-depth interview was conducted on 13 women and market leaders across Kuje. The findings revealed that 43.8% of the respondents fall within 30 years and above age bracket, 26.9% had non-formal education, 67.7% were Christians, while 56.2 % were married A total of 97.7% of the respondents were aware of domestic violence, while 43.8% linked domestic violence to early marriage. There is a significant relationship between level of education and perception of what constituted domestic violence among the respondents. Qualitative data revealed that culture and family affected expectations and treatment of women in rural Nigeria. The study concluded that domestic violence affects women and girl child negatively, and recommended that a more vigorous advocacy campaign against it should be intensified through mass media, family, community and religious leaders. Government should intensify efforts on free and compulsory education to empower the populace and reduce poverty among families.

Gambling in Transition: Assessing Youth Narratives of Gambling in Nigeria.

Nigeria has witnessed some significant changes in gambling which have resulted in more people becoming interested in the activity. In an attempt to increase participation, bookmakers have introduced a variety of innovations. Literature has established that this increased participation is inter-generational, cross-cultural, and inter-religious. Particularly among Nigerian youth, participation in gambling cuts across all age groups, socio-economic status, and gender. Both financial and social rewards have been identified as reasons why many youths gamble. Through a qualitative lens, this study investigates how the dynamics of gambling in recent times have affected the biographies of youth within a relatively deprived socio-economic locality in Kwara State, Nigeria. Thirty young gamblers between the ages of 15 and 29 were engaged in a semi-structured interview session. Drawing from the meaning of 'youth' from a sociological lexicon, one can advance this unique narrative of the transitions in gambling activities which can occur as a result of the youths' biographies and socio-economic status. Nigerian youth adopt three specific gambling types as a coping strategy in the face of a crisis-ridden socio-economic structure characterised by poverty, and unemployment. As such, gambling has become a normative activity experimented by the youth to survive the harsh economic conditions. This study therefore argues the need to situate the discourse of youth gambling within the social, cultural, and economic context in which they are located in Nigeria. In addition, the authors provide a framework for understanding the complexity of youth gambling in Nigeria.