An Assessment of Avian Influenza Awareness among Households in Nasarawa State, Nigeria

The study was undertaken to assess avian influenza awareness among households in Nasarawa State, Nigeria. One hundred and two households were randomly selected from the study area. Structured questionnaires were employed to elicit information from the respondents. Primary data collected were subjected to both descriptive and logistic regression analysis. The results indicated that 60.78 per cent of the respondents were between 26 and 50 years ofage while 17.65 per cent had no formal education. About 41.18 per cent of the respondents were engaged in livestock-based activities. The distance to nearest livestock/veterinary health authority was less than an hour while radio was the best information source of avian influenza. Although 67.65 per cent claimed to be aware of the occurrence of the dreaded disease; their knowledge on the symptoms, transmission, biosecurity and prevention/control measures was relatively poor. About 44.12 per cent were conversant with the public health hazards. The logit regression analysis showed that educational level and number of information sources positively and significantly affected the level of avian influenza awareness. However, distance to nearest livestock/veterinary health authority negatively influenced awareness. The prediction of level of avian influenza awareness gave R2 value of 0.57. The responsiveness of probability to educational level was the highest (2.957). There is urgent need therefore, to intensify public campaigns amongst others to curb the menace of the newly emergent HSN! strain ofavian influenza