Nigeria Centre for Disease Control awareness creation and risk communication of Covid-19 pandemic amongst non-literate population in south-west Nigeria: lessons for future health campaign

Background: Risk communication of Covid-19 pandemic in Nigeria appeared to be urban-centred with the dominant use of social media, print communication and other controlled media. In such times of public health emergencies, non-literate population could be vulnerable as a result of their limited understanding of the nature of such health risk. Objective: Therefore, the study seeks to investigate the extent to which NCDC communicated the risk of Covid-19 disease to non-literates population in its public health campaign during the pandemic in South-West Nigeria. Methods: The study adopts risk communication theory which advances the approach communication should take during public health emergencies. Using the concurrent mixed method research design, a sample of 420 respondents were purposively selected from 6 towns in the rural areas of Lagos, Oyo and Osun states to examine the level of awareness on Covid-19 pandemic among non-literates. In addition, NCDC risk communication on Covid-19 for non-literates population were analysed from 3 Jingles in Yoruba language as well as 9 flyers designed for Covid-19 disease from NCDC websites. Results: Results showed that NCDC awareness creation on Covid-19 disease for non-literates in Southwest achieved significant success as a result of the medium used in creating awareness. Specifically, radio was highly rated among majority of the respondents (60.4%) followed by Health workers (19.8%) as channels that created understandable message on Covid-19 safety protocols. Further findings on Jingles content revealed that all Covid-19 safety protocols were communicated in Yoruba language for Southwest populace. However, NCDC fall short in communicating Covid-19 risk effectively for non-literates in Southwest as jingles only buttressed the Covid-19 safety protocols and symptoms as well as the need to comply, without educating the masses on the dreadful nature of the disease and its dynamics. Though flyers designed by the NCDC communicated risk to an extent, nevertheless, graphics and symbols on Covid-19 disease were complimented by words in English language only, which could be difficult for non-literates to decipher. Conclusion: Based on the findings, the study recommends that public health agencies need to educate non-literate population about the nature of a disease more than creating awareness about the outbreak of a disease.

Public perception of radio campaign messages in managing COVID-19 pandemic in selected states, Nigeria.

The study examined public perception of Nigeria Center of Disease Control's (NCDC) radio campaign messages in managing the Covid-19 pandemic in three selected states in the south-western part of the country. A survey research design was adopted with a questionnaire as a data collection instrument. A sample size of 400 respondents was chosen through the multistage approach. The study revealed that the residents in selected states in South-Western Nigeria reported exposure to radio campaign messages on COVID-19 preventive measures and perceived that the messages influenced the awareness and adoption of COVID-19 preventive measures. It was recommended that behavioral change communication experts and public health officers at all levels should leverage the reliability and spread of radio among the populace to disseminate public health issues.

Expanding the boundaries of vaccine discourse: impact of visual illustrations communication intervention on intention towards COVID-19 vaccination among victims of insecurity in Nigeria.

Research on how to promote vaccination among victims of conflict is scarce. In this study, we conducted an experiment to determine how an artistic illustration communication intervention delivered alongside counseling will influence the behavior intention toward COVID-19 vaccination. The study involved 470 respondents (n = 235 control) and (n = 235 treatment). Variables from social cognitive theory and theory of planned behavior were used to develop the study hypotheses. The result of the study showed that victims of conflict who are exposed to visual messages on COVID-19 vaccination reported greater self-efficacy than those who are not. Also, victims of conflict who are exposed to visual messages on COVID-19 vaccination reported greater task efficacy than those who are not. Furthermore, victims of conflict who are exposed to visual arts on COVID-19 vaccination reported more positive outcome expectancy from the vaccine than those who are not. Finally, the result showed that victims of conflict who are exposed to visual messages on COVID-19 vaccination reported intention to make themselves available for vaccination than those who are not. We discussed these findings and highlighted the nexus between insecurity and health promotion.

Modeling predictors of COVID-19 health behaviour adoption, sustenance and discontinuation among social media users in Nigeria.

The aim of this study was to suggest a model that explains the predictors of COVID-19 health behaviour adoption, sustenance and discontinuation among social media users in Nigeria. Survey research design was used for the study. The sample size was made of 600 social media users with questionnaire as the instrument for data collection. The structural equation modeling (SEM) was utilized to analyse the result for the study. It was found that six variables-risk vulnerability, risk severity, barriers to action, benefits of action, self-efficacy, and cue to behaviour-predict COVID-19 health behaviour adoption. Also, two variables-risk vulnerability and risk severity-predict COVID-19 health behaviour sustenance. Finally, two variables-behaviour fatigue and behaviour discomfort-predict COVID-19 health behaviour discontinuation. The result of the current study has provided information that could guide health experts in dealing with the issue of behaviour fatigue and behaviour discomfort, which have been identified as responsible for health behaviour discontinuation. In addition, a model for predicting health behaviour adoption, sustenance and discontinuation has been suggested.