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Impact of Public Health Education on Disease Prevention Practices among Internally Displaced Persons in Nigeria

Abstract

Internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Nigeria face significant public health challenges arising from displacement, overcrowding, inadequate water and sanitation facilities, poor housing conditions, limited access to healthcare services, food insecurity, and exposure to environmental and infectious disease risks. These conditions may increase the vulnerability of displaced populations to communicable diseases such as diarrhoeal diseases, respiratory infections, malaria, skin infections, and other preventable health conditions. Public health education provides individuals and communities with relevant information about disease transmission, personal hygiene, safe water and sanitation, food safety, environmental cleanliness, vector control, vaccination, appropriate healthcare seeking, and other preventive measures. Disease prevention practices refer to behaviours adopted by individuals to reduce their risk of acquiring or transmitting diseases, including hand hygiene, safe water practices, appropriate sanitation, food hygiene, environmental cleanliness, use of protective measures, vector-control practices, vaccination where applicable, and timely utilization of healthcare services. Among IDPs in Nigeria, inadequate health information, language and cultural barriers, limited healthcare access, poor living conditions, and restricted availability of preventive resources may affect disease prevention practices. Effective public health education may improve health knowledge and encourage the adoption of appropriate preventive behaviours. Against this background, this study investigates the impact of public health education on disease prevention practices among internally displaced persons in Nigeria. The study is anchored on the Health Belief Model, Social Cognitive Theory, and Knowledge-Attitude-Practice framework. The Health Belief Model explains preventive health behaviour through perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, and cues to action, providing a basis for understanding IDPs' decisions to adopt disease prevention practices. Social Cognitive Theory emphasizes the interaction between knowledge, self-efficacy, social influences, behavioural capabilities, and environmental conditions in shaping health behaviour. The Knowledge-Attitude-Practice framework provides a basis for examining how improved knowledge and attitudes resulting from public health education may influence disease prevention practices. Collectively, these theoretical perspectives provide a suitable framework for explaining how public health education may influence disease prevention practices among internally displaced persons in Nigeria. The study will adopt a quantitative quasi-experimental research design. Primary data will be collected from adult internally displaced persons residing in selected officially recognized IDP camps and displacement-affected communities in Nigeria using a structured interviewer-administered questionnaire and an observational environmental health checklist. A multistage sampling technique will be employed to select states, displacement locations, camps or host communities, households, and eligible participants. Where feasible, selected participant groups or displacement locations will be assigned to intervention and comparison groups. Participants in the intervention group will receive structured public health education covering disease transmission and prevention, hand hygiene, safe water collection and storage, household water treatment, sanitation, food hygiene, environmental cleanliness, waste disposal, vector control, vaccination, recognition of common disease symptoms, and appropriate healthcare seeking. Disease prevention practices will be assessed using indicators such as handwashing, safe water treatment and storage, sanitation, food hygiene, environmental cleanliness, appropriate waste disposal, vector-control practices, vaccination uptake where applicable, and timely healthcare seeking. Descriptive statistics will be used to summarize participants' sociodemographic and displacement characteristics, public health knowledge, exposure to education, and disease prevention practices. Inferential statistical techniques, including chi-square tests, paired-sample tests, independent-sample tests, and multiple regression analysis, will be used to determine the impact of public health education on disease prevention practices. Appropriate diagnostic tests will also be conducted to assess the reliability of the research instrument, model assumptions, goodness of fit, and robustness of the findings. The study is expected to find that public health education has a significant positive impact on disease prevention practices among internally displaced persons in Nigeria. Participants exposed to structured public health education are expected to demonstrate improved knowledge of disease transmission and prevention and greater adoption of appropriate preventive behaviours. Education may encourage improved hand hygiene, safer drinking-water practices, appropriate sanitation, food hygiene, environmental cleanliness, waste disposal, vector-control practices, vaccination where applicable, and timely healthcare seeking. However, education alone may not guarantee sustained disease prevention practices because IDPs may continue to face structural barriers such as overcrowding, inadequate water and sanitation facilities, limited access to healthcare services, food insecurity, poor environmental conditions, shortage of preventive materials, insecurity, and frequent movement between locations. Consequently, public health education is expected to be most effective when supported by adequate water and sanitation infrastructure, accessible healthcare services, sufficient preventive supplies, improved living conditions, disease surveillance, and coordinated humanitarian interventions. The study is expected to contribute to the literature on public health education, disease prevention, environmental health, humanitarian health, infectious disease control, and health promotion in Nigeria by providing empirical evidence on the impact of public health education on disease prevention practices among internally displaced persons. The findings will provide useful information to the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), State Emergency Management Agencies, state ministries of health, local government health authorities, humanitarian organizations, healthcare providers, community health workers, and development partners regarding strategies for improving disease prevention among displaced populations. The study will also provide evidence-based recommendations for strengthening health education programmes in IDP settings, improving water and sanitation facilities, increasing access to preventive healthcare services, strengthening disease surveillance, ensuring availability of essential preventive materials, and promoting sustainable disease prevention practices among internally displaced persons across Nigeria.

Keywords: Public health education, disease prevention practices, internally displaced persons, IDPs, disease prevention, health promotion, environmental health, humanitarian health, sanitation, infectious diseases, healthcare seeking, public health, Nigeria.