KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE OF SOCIAL MEDIA USERS IN ILORIN TOWARDS MONKEY POX PREVENTION

Abstract

The rise of monkey pox has become an issue of concern globally. Social media continues to serve as a veritable 
platform for the dissemination of information on monkey pox. However, public awareness on the disease seems to 
be low. To this end, this study sought to find out the role social media played in preventing the spread of monkey 
pox in Ilorin, Nigeria. This study adopted the health belief model. A sample size of 399 was derived from the 
estimated population of 700,000 social media users using the Cochran formular. The simple random sampling 
procedure was used in the selection of respondents. The findings of this study disclosed that social media users in 
Ilorin Nigeria are highly aware of monkey pox viral infection alongside the awareness campaigns on social media. 
Twitter among other social media platform emerged as the major source of information on monkey pox closely 
followed by Facebook. The respondents thus showed a wide knowledge and positive attitude and practice towards 
its detection, prevention and treatment. The researcher thus recommended that health agencies should use all social 
media platforms to create awareness of monkey pox and other health related matters. Social media users should also 
endeavour to go for monkey pox screening test as well as other health related tests even when they do not feel sick.