- Expressing confidence in capacity of local hospitals to tackle the issue
A new public opinion poll conducted by NOIPolls in partnership with EpiAfric to seek the perception of Nigerians regarding the awareness, mode of transmission, symptoms and preventive measures of Lassa fever revealed that there is a very high level of awareness of the Lassa fever disease amongst Nigerians (81 percent). This is derived mostly through television (46 percent) and radio (39 percent). Awareness is highest in the North-East zone of the country (89 percent), where the disease was first observed in the 1960s and where the current outbreak appears to have started. Rat infected food stuff is commonly believed to be the main mode of transmission (93 percent); while very few people mentioned the role of person-to-person transmission. People identified fever (63 percent), mucosal bleeding (37 percent), vomitting (33 percent) and headache (12 percent) to be the symptoms of the disease.
Majority of the respondents indicated that they were willing to go to a public hospital for health care if affected by the disease (92 percent). Most also indicated that they will ensure that their environment is clean (40 percent), as their primary strategy to avoid being affected by the virus. A higher percentage of Nigerians expressed their confidence in their local hospital’s capacity to manage cases of Lassa Fever (70 percent) and most respondents were confident that the Ministry of Health was carrying out enough sentisization about the disease (83 percent). These were the key findings from the recently conducted public opinion poll on the Health Sector in the week commencing January 25th 2016.
This survey has shown that most Nigerians are aware of the Lassa Fever disease as well as acknowledging that the Ministry of Health is carrying out adequate sensitization. However, the role of person-to-person spread of the virus, especially in outbreak situations is under-appreciated. Also, almost no one mentioned the role of infection control in prevention. Respondents are somewhat unsure of the preventive measures and the symptoms since it is often misdiagnosed at an early stage as malaria and other feverish conditions. However, it is important to note that it is almost impossible to differentiate from malaria, therefore the most appropriate response to fever is to get a diagnosis for malaria, and not indulge in self-medication.
Survey Methods
Results are based on telephone interviews of a proportionate random nationwide sample, and conducted in the week commencing 25th of January 2016. 1,000 randomly selected phone-owning Nigerians adults aged 18 years and above, across the six geopolitical zones in the country, were interviewed and the Interviews were conducted in English, Pidgin, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba languages. With a sample of this size, we can say with 95% confidence that the results obtained are statistically precise – within a range of plus or minus 3% margin of error. The margin of error reflects influence of data weighting. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties associated with conducting telephone surveys (particularly in Nigeria) can introduce error or bias into the findings of opinion polls.
