The Effect of the Internet on Community Awareness of Covid-19 in Nigeria
CHAPTER ONE
Objective of the study
The objectives of the study are;
- To ascertain the role internet play in curbing the spread of coronavirus pandemic in Nigeria community
- To ascertain if the internet campaign created a reasonable level of awareness of COVID-19 epidemic, causes, effects and prevention in Nigeria community
- To ascertain the relationship between internet and COVID19 sensitizing awareness
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Coronavirus
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus.
Most people infected with the COVID-19 virus will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without requiring special treatment. Older people, and those with underlying medical problems like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer are more likely to develop serious illness.
The best way to prevent and slow down transmission is be well informed about the COVID-19 virus, the disease it causes and how it spreads. Protect yourself and others from infection by washing your hands or using an alcohol based rub frequently and not touching your face.
The COVID-19 virus spreads primarily through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose when an infected person coughs or sneezes, so it’s important that you also practice respiratory etiquette (for example, by coughing into a flexed elbow).
At this time, there are no specific vaccines or treatments for COVID-19. However, there are many ongoing clinical trials evaluating potential treatments. WHO will continue to provide updated information as soon as clinical findings become available.
Moving facts
It has been approximately 10 weeks since the COVID-19 outbreak was first reported, and when you compare the amount known about the virus when it first emerged (nothing!) to the amount known now, including its clinical progression and the at-risk demographics it is truly remarkable. However, this constant barrage of new information, new cases and new advice has been challenging to keep up with. It not only makes the story difficult to keep up with from a journalist’s perspective, it makes it confusing for anyone trying to follow the story. A news piece you read one day could be entirely out-of-date by the next morning, and this has meant there have been many questions from the public surrounding the outbreak and the virus. In addition, as more information has emerged over the past weeks, experts and public health officials have revised their opinions, advice and recommendations in line with this, and it has been suggested that these updates have made it hard to build trust.
In a webinar hosted by representatives from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (Geneva, Switzerland), BBC Media Action (London, UK), Internews (CA, USA) and the WHO it was discussed that journalists and media organizations should do their utmost to keep up to date with the outbreak using reliable information from respective health departments and the WHO, and that they should both fact- and reality-check information in order to remain a trusted source. Moreover, one of the major moving parts in the outbreak is clearly the constantly growing case numbers, but some have questioned whether the numbers still matter? Although the numbers are of interest to the public, it’s also important to communicate the story behind the numbers, what countries are doing to respond to the disease and what individuals can do too, ensuring stories have practical and actionable information.
Misinformation, stigma and fake news
A pressing problem with modern-day, online media is the spread of misinformation – this has been much talked about in political spheres but has also been a prevalent issue in healthcare regarding sentiment towards vaccination. The spread of misinformation on SARS-CoV-2 has been no different – theories have been floating around that the virus was engineered in a lab as a bioterrorism agent, or that the symptoms are actually caused by the 5G mobile network. In addition, thousands of listings on Amazon promoting fake COVID-19 cures have been reported, and the prices of some sanitizers and facemasks have increased by over 2000%, despite in many cases not being fit for purpose.
Another challenge in the social media age has been avoiding stigma. Early in the COVID-19 outbreak, before the disease or the virus were officially named, many outlets referred to the virus as ‘Wuhan virus’ or similar, with this hashtag trending on Twitter. Unfortunately, this wording has a tendency to stigmatize individuals from that city, and also builds an association with those of a certain ethnicity, in some cases stoking fear and xenophobia.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought the effect of the internet on community awareness of covid-19 in Nigeria
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
Primary source and Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain The effect of the internet on community awareness of covid-19 in Nigeria. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of the internet on community awareness of covid-19 in Nigeria
Summary
This study was on the effect of the internet on community awareness of covid-19 in Nigeria. Three objectives were raised which included: To ascertain the role internet play in curbing the spread of coronavirus pandemic in Nigeria community, to ascertain if the internet campaign created a reasonable level of awareness of COVID-19 epidemic, causes, effects and prevention in Nigeria community and to ascertain the relationship between internet and COVID19 sensitizing awareness. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 residents selected in Oyo state. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made civil servants, students, married men and married women were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
The internet could be said to have given adequate attention to the issues of the COVID19 owing to its covering of the COVID19 on its well lead stories. Internet provided varied forms of information from both straight news, to feature reports as well as opinion pages thereby giving the audience more access to news on the development and spread of COVID19.
Recommendation
Internet said to set the agenda for public discuss as well as being expected to be socially responsible enough to promote societal development. Therefore, first and foremost, the researcher suggests that internet should be more proactive in handling societal issues by not always adopting only the watchdog method but should also act a whistle blower, pre-empting and responding prompt enough in averting disasters of this nature. This is informed by two premise; first is that the COVID19 had long been existing in other west African country before it came to Nigeria hence they could have championed public discourse on the COVID19 as well as other important public issues
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