THE ROLE OF MEDIA IN CURBING THE SPREAD OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES IN NIGERIA. A STUDY OF COVID-19

Mass media campaigns can be used to provide information on current and effective vaccination, drug therapy and social distancing measures. Public health education campaigns, that include informative literature (i.e., pamphlets), posters, newspaper articles and advertisements, radio and television messages, and social media outlets (i.e., twitter, facebook) are used daily to inform the public on current health issues. Mass media outlets can aid in dissemination of this information. Studies of mass media campaigns and healthy behaviour have reported that mass media campaigns can elicit positive behaviour change and even prevent negative behaviour change in individuals. It is therefore concluded that mass media campaigns should be used to inform the public so that behaviour change can result .It has been shown that information conveyed by the media is becoming the critical factor as to whether or not a social distancing , facemask wearing and handwashing campaign during COVID19 will succeed . It is believed that the media coverage of the recent COVID-19 pandemic had an effect on the total spread of these pathogens which have been the subject of many media reports all over the world including Nigeria.

8k