Monkeypox Awareness Lacking in Nigeria, Expert Warns
A public health expert has expressed concern over the persistent outbreaks of Monkeypox in Nigeria, citing the country’s suboptimal awareness and understanding of the disease. Olufemi Olulaja, Secretary of the Illinois Public Health Association, emphasized the urgent need for improved awareness and health education at the population level.
Olulaja spoke at the Strategic Healthcare Leadership Summit in Lagos, highlighting the importance of increasing knowledge and awareness about Mpox among Nigerians. He emphasized that this approach would lead to better control of the disease with improved communication.
According to Olulaja, the first and most cost-effective strategy to control Mpox outbreaks and prevent recurrence is to increase awareness of the virus among the population. He stressed that ensuring outbreak communication and health education news items are culturally relevant, published in local languages, and disseminated through the most widely accepted means of information dissemination will be helpful in the fight against Mpox.
Olulaja also emphasized the need for government and media agencies to pay sufficient attention to health information content. He suggested that the content should include information on the cause, transmission, early symptoms, complications, prevention, treatment (if any), hotlines to call for help, and current efforts by the government to control the outbreak.
The expert also highlighted the importance of culturally sensitive information, which should include what is known about the disease, what is unknown at the time of publication, current scientific efforts, and possible outcomes. He stressed that the common practice of not capturing these essential aspects in public health information needs to change for optimal knowledge among the population.
Olulaja suggested that the scale of Mpox public awareness should match that of the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw Nigeria pursue an aggressive approach to communicating the outbreak and educating the public on pandemic control and preventive strategies. He emphasized that a similar level of effectiveness is needed to address the communication and education gaps in Monkeypox control, which can lead to a significant reduction in the number of cases and better control of the disease.
The expert’s remarks underscore the importance of increasing awareness and understanding of Monkeypox in Nigeria, as well as the need for culturally sensitive and relevant information dissemination.
