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Community Knowledge and Practice Regarding Ebola Prevention in FCT, Abuja

Received: 6 March 2020     Accepted: 26 March 2020     Published: 23 April 2020
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Abstract

Reports of Ebola outbreaks in affected communities have been associated with rumors, fear, poor perception on the disease and stigmatization of Ebola survivors in their host communities. The depth of knowledge of Ebola Viral disease (EVD) among community members will influence the making of informed decision regarding risky behavioral practices and attitude to survivors. This study was a cross-sectional study using multistage sampling technique to select a total of 1190 respondents from the two area councils of the Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria. Pre-tested questionnaire with 10-point knowledge score on Ebola, 10 point attitude, 6 point scale on practice and 5 point scale on perception was administered by trained interviewers to respondents. Mean age of respondents was 29.61 ± 7.51years. 97.3% were aware of EVD. Media (81.7%) was respondent’s first source of information on EVD and the most trusted (80.4%). Majority (82.1%) of the respondents had good knowledge of EVD. A good number (83.3%) also showed poor attitude to survivors of Ebola while thirty-eight (3.2%) of respondents had poor practice towards EVD prevention. About 96.3% of respondents had a high perception score. Although Knowledge of Ebola was high, media campaigns needs to be structured and targeted to meet gaps in attitude so as to avoid stigmatization and its attendant consequences by host communities towards Ebola survivors.

Published in Central African Journal of Public Health (Volume 6, Issue 3)
DOI 10.11648/j.cajph.20200603.16
Page(s) 144-153
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Ebola Virus Disease, Risk Perception, Practice, Attitude, Nigeria

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Helen Adamu, Samuel Ogundare, ThankGod Emmanuel Onyiche, Magdalene Nanvene, Babajide Daini, et al. (2020). Community Knowledge and Practice Regarding Ebola Prevention in FCT, Abuja. Central African Journal of Public Health, 6(3), 144-153. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cajph.20200603.16

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    ACS Style

    Helen Adamu; Samuel Ogundare; ThankGod Emmanuel Onyiche; Magdalene Nanvene; Babajide Daini, et al. Community Knowledge and Practice Regarding Ebola Prevention in FCT, Abuja. Cent. Afr. J. Public Health 2020, 6(3), 144-153. doi: 10.11648/j.cajph.20200603.16

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    AMA Style

    Helen Adamu, Samuel Ogundare, ThankGod Emmanuel Onyiche, Magdalene Nanvene, Babajide Daini, et al. Community Knowledge and Practice Regarding Ebola Prevention in FCT, Abuja. Cent Afr J Public Health. 2020;6(3):144-153. doi: 10.11648/j.cajph.20200603.16

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  • @article{10.11648/j.cajph.20200603.16,
      author = {Helen Adamu and Samuel Ogundare and ThankGod Emmanuel Onyiche and Magdalene Nanvene and Babajide Daini and Modupe Fasina},
      title = {Community Knowledge and Practice Regarding Ebola Prevention in FCT, Abuja},
      journal = {Central African Journal of Public Health},
      volume = {6},
      number = {3},
      pages = {144-153},
      doi = {10.11648/j.cajph.20200603.16},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cajph.20200603.16},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.cajph.20200603.16},
      abstract = {Reports of Ebola outbreaks in affected communities have been associated with rumors, fear, poor perception on the disease and stigmatization of Ebola survivors in their host communities. The depth of knowledge of Ebola Viral disease (EVD) among community members will influence the making of informed decision regarding risky behavioral practices and attitude to survivors. This study was a cross-sectional study using multistage sampling technique to select a total of 1190 respondents from the two area councils of the Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria. Pre-tested questionnaire with 10-point knowledge score on Ebola, 10 point attitude, 6 point scale on practice and 5 point scale on perception was administered by trained interviewers to respondents. Mean age of respondents was 29.61 ± 7.51years. 97.3% were aware of EVD. Media (81.7%) was respondent’s first source of information on EVD and the most trusted (80.4%). Majority (82.1%) of the respondents had good knowledge of EVD. A good number (83.3%) also showed poor attitude to survivors of Ebola while thirty-eight (3.2%) of respondents had poor practice towards EVD prevention. About 96.3% of respondents had a high perception score. Although Knowledge of Ebola was high, media campaigns needs to be structured and targeted to meet gaps in attitude so as to avoid stigmatization and its attendant consequences by host communities towards Ebola survivors.},
     year = {2020}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Community Knowledge and Practice Regarding Ebola Prevention in FCT, Abuja
    AU  - Helen Adamu
    AU  - Samuel Ogundare
    AU  - ThankGod Emmanuel Onyiche
    AU  - Magdalene Nanvene
    AU  - Babajide Daini
    AU  - Modupe Fasina
    Y1  - 2020/04/23
    PY  - 2020
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cajph.20200603.16
    DO  - 10.11648/j.cajph.20200603.16
    T2  - Central African Journal of Public Health
    JF  - Central African Journal of Public Health
    JO  - Central African Journal of Public Health
    SP  - 144
    EP  - 153
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2575-5781
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cajph.20200603.16
    AB  - Reports of Ebola outbreaks in affected communities have been associated with rumors, fear, poor perception on the disease and stigmatization of Ebola survivors in their host communities. The depth of knowledge of Ebola Viral disease (EVD) among community members will influence the making of informed decision regarding risky behavioral practices and attitude to survivors. This study was a cross-sectional study using multistage sampling technique to select a total of 1190 respondents from the two area councils of the Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria. Pre-tested questionnaire with 10-point knowledge score on Ebola, 10 point attitude, 6 point scale on practice and 5 point scale on perception was administered by trained interviewers to respondents. Mean age of respondents was 29.61 ± 7.51years. 97.3% were aware of EVD. Media (81.7%) was respondent’s first source of information on EVD and the most trusted (80.4%). Majority (82.1%) of the respondents had good knowledge of EVD. A good number (83.3%) also showed poor attitude to survivors of Ebola while thirty-eight (3.2%) of respondents had poor practice towards EVD prevention. About 96.3% of respondents had a high perception score. Although Knowledge of Ebola was high, media campaigns needs to be structured and targeted to meet gaps in attitude so as to avoid stigmatization and its attendant consequences by host communities towards Ebola survivors.
    VL  - 6
    IS  - 3
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Center for Clinical Care and Clinical Research, Jahi, Abuja, Nigeria

  • Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

  • Department of Veterinary Parasitology and Entomology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Maiduguri, Borno, Nigeria

  • Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ahmadu Bello University, Kaduna, Nigeria

  • Department of Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, Faculty of Public Health, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Oyo, Nigeria

  • Department of Nursing Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

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