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Perceptions of Ebola virus disease in Nigeria: Understanding the influence of imagination on health orientation
Author(s) -
Oduyemi Rachael O,
Ayegboyin Matthew,
Salami Kabiru K
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
international journal of nursing practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.62
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1440-172X
pISSN - 1322-7114
DOI - 10.1111/ijn.12425
Subject(s) - ebola virus , pandemic , public health , disease , medicine , perception , outbreak , infectious disease (medical specialty) , family medicine , economic growth , public relations , political science , covid-19 , nursing , psychology , virology , pathology , neuroscience , economics
The 2014 Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak was officially declared in the West Africa region by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 23 March 2014. This first episode of EVD in Nigeria on 20 July 2014 raised more intense panic globally than the seven occurrences of the disease in Zaire. Although Nigeria was declared Ebola free by the WHO within 3 months, it is imperative to understand people's perceptions of the disease in the country. A discussion of peoples' perception of EVD in Nigeria is the aim of this article. This discussion paper complements secondary data with grey literature to explore how peoples' imagination and personification of thoughts influence their health orientation. Data are sourced from secondary information compiled from ‘ The Nation Newspaper , 2014’; ‘Nairaland online forum, 2014’ and ‘ Giftedgreen online magazine, 2014’. Ebola virus disease was perceived as a spiritual manipulation of witchcraft activities and described as biological terrorism and a means of creating a drug market, among other issues, in the country. Public health professionals should consider the sociocultural milieu to understand and offer health‐care services in epidemics. Public health orientation work is urgently required in Nigeria to forestall future occurrence of EVD and other highly infectious diseases.