Conference Abstract | Volume 8, Abstract ELIC2025340 (Poster 083) | Published: 05 Aug 2025
Emmanuel Ojeabuo Oisakede1,&, Daniel Asogun2, Osahon Otaigbe3, Iziengbe Iyoriobhe4, Emmanuel Oghenetejiri Erhieyovwe5, Airenakho Emorinken6, Martin Nwosu3, Uyi Michael Osamudiamen7
1Department of General/Acute Medicine, Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, Bolton, England, 2Department of Internal Medicine, Edo Specialist Hospital, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria, 3Department of Community Medicine, Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua, Edo State, Nigeria, 4Department of Internal Medicine, Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua, Edo State, Nigeria, 5Department of Research and Innovation, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, England, 6Department of Rheumatology, Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua, Edo State, Nigeria, 7Department of Public Health, University of Chester, Chester, England.
&Corresponding author: Emmanuel Ojeabuo Oisakede, Department of General/Acute Medicine, Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, Bolton, England. Email: emmanuel.oisakede@gmail.com
Received: 12 May 2025, Accepted: 09 Jul 2025, Published: 05 Aug 2025
Domain: Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Keywords: health literacy, marburg virus disease (MVD), epidemic preparedness, outbreak response, healthcare workers
©Emmanuel Ojeabuo Oisakede 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: Emmanuel Ojeabuo Oisakede et al., Health literacy and preparedness for outbreak of Marburg Virus Disease among doctors and nurses at a reference treatment centre for viral hemorrhagic diseases in Nigeria. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2025;8(ConfProc5):00227. https://doi.org/10.37432/jieph-confpro5-00227
Marburg virus disease (MVD), a re-emerging viral haemorrhagic disease resurfaced in West Africa with a 2022 outbreak in Ghana, posing an increased threat to Nigeria. Already facing outbreaks of Lassa fever and Mpox, Nigeria remains vulnerable to the devastating impact of a potential MVD outbreak. This study assessed the readiness and health literacy levels of doctors and nurses at a reference centre for viral haemorrhagic diseases in Nigeria to evaluate MVD preparedness.
A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in which healthcare workers across different specialties in a viral haemorrhagic reference centre in Nigeria were surveyed. Data was collected between May and July 2024 using semi-structured questionnaires. Frequencies and proportions were calculated for categorical variables and associations between them were tested for using chi-square tests.
A total of 216 healthcare workers participated, comprising 126 doctors (58.3%) and 90 nurses (41.7%). The median age of nurses was 38 years while that of doctors was 29 years. Knowledge of Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) symptoms was higher among doctors (83, 65.9%) than among nurses (42, 46.7%), with fever (68.0%) being the most recognized symptom. Only 19.1% of doctors and 10.0% of nurses had received formal training on MVD. Doctors (69.1%) were more aware of MVD risk factors, such as close contact with infected individuals, compared to nurses (46.7%) (P<0.001). Confidence in hospital preparedness was lower among doctors (32.5%) than nurses (65.6%) (P<0.001). Most participants recommended regular training (84.9% of doctors, 66.7% of nurses) and seminars (69.1% of doctors, 46.7% of nurses) to enhance preparedness for MVD.
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