Attitudes Towards Lassa Fever Disease Transmission Among Household Members in Ondo State Southwest Nigeria

Abstract

Cultural beliefs that contribute to health behaviour patterns among communities and individuals have most times been regarded as obstacles in the control of infectious diseases. Ondo State in southwest Nigeria since 2016 has persistently recorded Lassa fever transmission in 6 Local Government Areas (LGAs) annually, resulting in high case fatality. Hence, identifying and understanding individual and community attitudes and behaviour associated with the continued transmission of Lassa fever in the State could aid the design of appropriate interventions focused on risk communication efforts to reduce the transmission of the disease. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among community members in six affected LGAs in May 2018. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered to 2537 consenting respondents to assess their attitudes towards Lassa fever transmission. Data analysis was done using frequency, proportions, Chi-Square test and binary logistic regression of predictors of outcome variable with statistical significance set at p<0.05. Results: The respondents' median age was 41.0 (12-95) years with the highest proportion in the age group above 36 years 1726 (68%). Slightly more than half of the respondents 1283 (50.6%) were females. Respondents agreed (54.2%) and strongly agreed (39.7%) that handwashing can prevent Lassa fever. Also, 47.7% agreed and 35.9% strongly agreed that washing dead bodies can lead to Lassa fever infection. Most of the respondents (98.3%) were positive or optimistic about the disease transmission. On the multivariate logistic regression, the attitude was statistically significantly associated with LGA location and educational level; those in Idanre LGA and those with tertiary education had higher odds of positive attitudes compared to those in Owo LGA and those with primary education respectively. Conclusion: The study found that the overall attitude of community members was positive with little or no misconception, however, the extent to which their attitude influences preventive behavioural practices needs to be investigated to determine the risk communication activities that will have the desired impact in controlling the outbreak.