Conference Abstract | Volume 8, Abstract ELIC20253 (Poster 107) | Published: 06 Aug 2025
Sunday Ezekiel Babalola1,&, Temitope Ojo1, Bosede Agnes Alowooye2, Olumuyiwa Ariyo3, Tayo Fasuan4, Ayodele Awojobi5, Damilola Owoseni5, Gideon Inyangudo6, Gboyega Adekunle Famokun7, Esu Staley Ezeani8, Stephen Oyegoke Fagbemi7
1Department of Community Health, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, 2Ekiti state Ministry of Health and Human Services, Ekiti State, Department of Public Health, Nigeria, 3Department of Infection Control, Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido-Ekiti, Nigeria, 4MicroBiotics NG, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria, 5Department of Public Health, Ministry of Health and Human Services, Ekiti, Nigeria, 6Department of Community Health, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, 7Ondo State Ministry of Health, Ondo State, Nigeria, 8Medical Research Council Unit, Gambia
&Corresponding author: Sunday Babalola, Department of Community Health, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, Email: sundaybabalola132@gmail.com
Received: 31 May 2025, Accepted: 09 Jul 2025, Published: 06 Aug 2025
Domain: Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Keywords: Lassa fever, perceived risk, Health Belief Model, Ifedore, Owo, Nigeria, Knowledge gap most especially in Owo
©Sunday Ezekiel Babalola et al. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health (ISSN: 2664-2824). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Cite this article: Sunday Ezekiel Babalola et al., Perceived risk of Lassa fever infection and its preventive practices among residents of Owo and Ifedore Local Government Areas of Ondo State, Nigeria. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2025;8(ConfProc5):00251. https://doi.org/10.37432/JIEPH-CONFPRO5-00251
Lassa fever is a zoonotic viral hemorrhagic disease endemic in Nigeria, with recurrent outbreaks affecting rural and urban populations. Perception of risk encompassing perceived susceptibility and severity plays a pivotal role in shaping preventive practices. This study assessed and compared the perceived risk of acquiring Lassa fever and practice of Lassa fever preventive measures.
The study was a comparative cross-sectional survey that employed quantitative design. Three hundred and thirty-two respondents per group were selected from the two LGAs (one endemic and non-endemic) using multistage sampling method. Data were collected using semi-structured questionnaire Data were analyzed using IBM Statistical Product for Service Solutions (IBM-SPSS) version 25. The level of significance was set at p < 0.05.
The results showed that, ninety-four percent (Ifedore) and ninety eight percent (Owo) respondents LGA were aware of Lassa fever. Twenty eight percent were within the age group of 30-39 years in both LGAs while 79.8% respondents in Ifedore and (70.8%) in Owo LGAs were married. 50% of the respondents and 39.2% had secondary education as their highest required level in Ifedore and Owo LGA, respectively. 78% of respondents in Ifedore LGA had good knowledge of Lassa fever as compared to 55.4% in Owo LGA and this was statistically significant (χ2=41.481, p<0.05). However, 46% (Ifedore) and 44% (Owo) LGAs had high risk perception of Lassa fever, 53.9% (Ifedore) and 55.7% (Owo) LGAs had a low perceived susceptibility of Lassa fever infection. Sixty two percent (Ifedore) and 43% (Owo) LGAs had low perceived benefit of Lassa fever preventive practices, while 71 % (Ifedore) and 75% (Owo) LGAs had high perceived barrier towards Lassa fever preventive practices. 80% (Ifedore) and 56.5% (Owo) LGA had good preventive practices towards Lassa fever.
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