Bolstering the willingness to uptake covid-19 vaccination through multidisciplinary health communication intervention: a cue for reaching herd immunity in Nigeria.

Background: The prevailing unwillingness to accept COVID-19 vaccination among the eligible population has been a serious setback in Nigeria's bid to reach herd immunity against the pandemic. Objective: We assessed the impact of a multidisciplinary health communication intervention (MHCI) on willingness to accept COVID-19 vaccination among eligible unvaccinated community dwellers (EUCD) in Nsukka Urban, Enugu State, Nigeria. Methods: Through a quasi-experiment that adopted a pre-test, post-test, non-control group design, we studied a total of 85 eligible unvaccinated adults. A researcher-designed "Willingness to Accept COVID-19 Vaccination Questionnaire" was the instrument used for data collection. The data gathered was analysed by means of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.0. Specifically, descriptive and inferential statistics were used to test the formulated research questions and the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. Results: We found that the mean scores of willingness to accept COVID-19 vaccination increased significantly after the treatment. There was no significant interaction effect of gender, level of education, and age on the mean of willingness to accept COVID-19 vaccination scores of EUCD after MHCI. Conclusion: The study established that MHCI is impactful in bolstering the willingness to accept COVID-19 vaccination. The Nigerian government should adopt and implement this intervention in schools, communities, and other institutions in order to attain herd immunity in Nigeria.

Impact of counseling visual multimedia on use of family planning methods among displaced Nigerian families.

Although there is evidence of increasing childbirth in internally displaced person (IDP) camps, limited literature exists on how to promote knowledge and use of modern family planning methods among this vulnerable group. The objective of this study was to determine the efficacy of visual multimedia in promoting knowledge and use of modern family planning methods among families in IDP camps in Nigeria. This study was a quasi-experiment of 470 individuals in IDP camps to determine the impact of visual multimedia in enhancing knowledge and intention to use modern family planning. The result of the study showed that at the pre-stage, participants in both the control and treatment groups reported low scores on knowledge and use of modern family planning methods. After the intervention and follow-up assessment, participants in the experimental group reported higher mean scores regarding knowledge and intention to use modern family planning methods while participants in the control group did not significantly improve. Animated visuals were found to be more effective than static pictures.