Community Education Strategies for the Control of Contagious Diseases in Rivers State, Nigeria (Published)
This study investigated community education strategies for the control of contagious diseases in Rivers State. The study adopted a descriptive survey design with a population size of 2,725 consisting of 25 experts in community education and 2,700 members of various Community-Based Organizations in four LGAs in Rivers State. A sample size of 370 respondents was drawn using proportionate stratified sampling technique. A questionnaire was used as the instrument for data collection. The instrument which was validated by three experts recorded a reliability coefficient of 0.86. The collected data were analysed using mean statistics and standard deviation. The analysed data revealed that the REFLECT , Each-One-Teach-One and the story telling are some of the community education strategies that could be used to create the needed awareness for attitudinal change on the control and management of contagious disease in Rivers State. Based on the findings, it was recommended among other things that The Federal and State Ministries of health should work hand in glove with the National Mass Education Commission and various state agencies of mass literacy to train health workers saddled with the responsibility of providing health education on how to adopt REFLECT and other community education strategies for awareness and knowledge creation for the control and management of contagious diseases in Nigeria.
Keywords: Community Education., Contagious, Diseases, Strategies.