In Nigeria, as in many countries, social media has allowed anyone to post COVID-19 misinformation as truth and fact, while misleading the public and, in some cases, causing real damage.
This article reviews some of the major misinformation events in Nigeria during the pandemic and notes the steps being taken to correct that situation.
Source: Who to Trust and How to Overcome COVID-19 Misinformation in Nigeria
This website offers publications and materials for the public emanating from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
The site includes posters and infographics, audio files, and videos, all created to increase public awareness about COVID-19 signs, symptoms, testing, and prevention.
Source: Nigeria Centre for Disease Control COVID-19 Resource Center
Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria presented two e-posters at the just concluded 23rd International AIDS Conference.
The two posters titled “Reinforcing COVID-19 Risk Communication and Community Engagement Response in Nigeria Through the Use of Mobile Curriculum“ and “COVID-19 Response Through 3-2-1 Digital Mobile Technology In Nigeria“ respectively were virtually presented on the poster virtual exhibition July 10th and 11th 2020. and is currently on the COVID-19 IAS Conference.
These posters are based on the Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria support to the NCDC’s Risk communications and community engagement (RCCE) activities on the coronavirus pandemic through the United States Agency for International Agency (USAID) funding. .
Source: IAS Conference E-posters
Breakthrough ACTION Nigeria posted these images in Twitter about wearing masks to slow the spread of COVID-19 on July 15, 2020. The tweets encourage people to not share face masks and to use a face mask and/or a mask in combination with a shield as opposed to simply wearing a face shield. Breakthrough ACTION Nigeria also used the hashtag #COVID19StopsWithMe.
Source: Tweets about Wearing Masks
The second stream (Wave 2) audio spots as produced by Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria in support of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control’s Risk Communications response focused on preventive measures such as good hygiene and physical distancing as well as discouraging the sharing of fake news while promoting #Take Responsibility Campaign theme song.
Source: Breakthrough ACTION Nigeria Wave 2- COVID-19 Spots
I am incredibly proud to share that we (SRHIN) have produced the #stopcovid19 Infographics in over 80 local languages (esp from Africa) to ensure that people have the right health information about preventing #covid19. The infographics can be publicly accessed at www.tinyurl.com/stopcovid.
It is sad that some people especially in the local communities & slums in Africa still believe that COVID-19 or “Coro Coro” like it’s popularly called is a ‘foreign’ or a ‘rich’ persons disease that cannot affect them. There have been reported cases of Chloroquine abuse among young people & even some African parents were reported to give their children hand sanitiser to drink after coughing to ‘prevent’ them from having the novel coronavirus.
Hence, it is important that evidence-based messages (from World Health Organization & other reliable sources) are tailor-made in their local languages to reach and empower them.
With our over 80 infographics designs we can empower so many communities in Africa and beyond & give them hope that we will beat the novel coronavirus.
Source: Stop COVID-19 Infographics
As part of the efforts to support Nigeria in curbing the spread of the coronavirus, Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria and partners will be supporting the #TakeResponsibility social media campaign of the NCDC through various social media activities. The team created a #PUSH challenge.
PUSH stands for:
P = Practice coughing or sneezing in your elbow.
U = Use soap and running water to wash you hands regularly
S = Stay at home to reduce spread from person-to-person.
H = Help others by spreading this message
Source: PUSH COVID-19 Challenge
Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria facilitated video recordings of religous leaders (Christian and Muslim) in its intervention states in Nigeria. The recordings focused on COVID-19 preventive messages to bolster the adherence of the guidelines of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in containing the pandemic.
Source: State Religious Leaders Messages
Due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in December 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) had prioritized 13 African countries including Nigeria as the most vulnerable countries for importation of COVID-19.
Since the confirmation of an index case in the country, the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH), Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and WHO commenced the coordination of a response and preparedness plan. One of the components of the plan is Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) with an Incident Action Plan (IAP), which articulates communication objectives and illustrative activities proposed by the NCDC. Through partnership and collaboration, Breakthrough ACTION Nigeria will work to support the Nigerian Government and RCCE country-level pillar leadership (currently the Health promotion division of the FMoH, NCDC, WHO and UNICEF) with technical assistance to adapt and contextualize plans, tools, templates, and materials to support the preparedness and/or response activities required by Nigeria.
Activities/ materials include:
Audio spots:
10 (60secs) audio spots on self-isolation for international travelers. In these spots (available in Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, Pidgin, and English) two men/ two women discuss having just returned from travel and the need to stay self-isolated.
Source: Bros Jay (for men) and Ladies Night (for women) in clip below
Advance Dial Prompts:
These are voice messages that users receive after they dial but before their call connects. They are available in Igbo, Hausa, Pidgin, Yoruba, and English.
Audio clips:
Source: Igbo clip
Source: Hausa clip
Source: Pidgin clip
Source: Yoruba clip
Source: English clip
Scripts:
Source: SMS Content for #TakeResponsibility Campaign (Igbo script)
Source: SMS Content for #TakeResponsibility Campaign (Pidgin script)
This website is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Breakthrough ACTION Cooperative Agreement #AID-OAA-A-17-00017. Breakthrough ACTION is based at Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs (CCP).The contents of this website are the sole responsibility of Breakthrough ACTION and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID, the United States Government, or Johns Hopkins University.
