Nigerian Multimedia COVID-19 “H.A.N.D.S. Campaign”

The Nigerian multimedia COVID-19 “H.A.N.D.S. Campaign” increased the number of Nigerians who believe in and practice COVID-19 preventive behaviours.

The goal of the campaign was to “Increase the number of Nigerians who believe in and practice COVID-19 preventive behaviours. It did this by enhancing risk perception and building public confidence.

The Federal Government of Nigeria, in collaboration with the United Nations implemented the campaign, with funding from the European Union. The campaign included school-based interventions for children and mass media and community-based interventions for adults. It also ensured engagement with people with disabilities. The community-
based interventions took place in six States (Rivers, Plateau, Oyo, Kaduna, Kano, Lagos) and the FCT, identified as COVID-19 hotspots in Nigeria.

H.A.N.D.S as an acronym, the campain presented five key actions in a simple, easy-to-recall manner.
H – Have your hands washed or sanitized frequently.
A – Always cough or sneeze into your elbow.
N – No going out without a face mask.
D – Distance of at least two arm’s length should be maintained.

The program’s evaluation used a mixed-method combining both quantitative and qualitative research designs.

Findings revealed that exposure to the campaign led to an increase across all outcomes; 19% increase in knowledge, 1.3% increase in self efficacy, 54% increase in practice of COVID-19 preventive behaviours, 9% increase in participants willingness to continue observing the COVID-19 preventive behaviours and 50% increase in intention to practice COVID-19 preventive behaviours.

This case study is called “H.A.N.D.S Campaign: Evaluation of a national multimedia COVID-19 campaign.” Find it in the African Social Marketing Conference proceedings, starting on page 76.

Nigeria

Community-based, COVID-19, H.A.N.D.S., HANDS, Multimedia, Nigeria, School