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Impact of Community Disease-Mapping Projects on Awareness of Local Health Risks among Residents in Nigeria

Abstract

Awareness of local health risks is an important component of disease prevention, early health-seeking, and community participation in public health programmes. Residents may have limited knowledge of the distribution of common diseases and environmental or behavioural factors that contribute to health risks within their communities. Community disease-mapping projects provide an opportunity to collect, organize, and visually present information about the occurrence or distribution of selected diseases and associated risk factors at the local level. By making health-risk information more visible and geographically relevant, disease maps may improve residents' understanding of local health problems and encourage appropriate preventive actions. Against this background, this study investigates the impact of community disease-mapping projects on awareness of local health risks among residents in Nigeria. The study will be anchored on the Social Ecological Model, Health Belief Model, and Community Participation Theory. The Social Ecological Model emphasizes the interaction between individual, household, community, environmental, and broader societal factors in shaping exposure to health risks and health behaviours. The Health Belief Model explains how residents' perceptions of susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits of preventive measures, perceived barriers, and cues to action may influence their response to information about local health risks. Community Participation Theory emphasizes the importance of involving residents in identifying, understanding, communicating, and responding to health problems affecting their communities. Collectively, these theoretical perspectives provide a suitable framework for explaining how community disease-mapping projects may influence awareness of local health risks among residents in Nigeria. The study will adopt a quantitative quasi-experimental or analytical cross-sectional research design. The study population will comprise adults aged 18 years and above residing in selected urban, semi-urban, and rural communities across Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique will be used to select geopolitical zones, states, local government areas, communities, neighbourhoods, households, and eligible residents. Community disease-mapping exposure will be assessed using indicators such as availability of community disease maps, frequency of residents' exposure to maps, accessibility of printed or digital maps, participation in mapping activities, visibility of disease distribution information, availability of explanations accompanying maps, community meetings concerning mapping results, and frequency of updates. Awareness of local health risks will be assessed using indicators such as knowledge of common diseases in the community, awareness of disease distribution patterns, recognition of local environmental risk factors, awareness of disease-transmission routes, identification of vulnerable population groups, knowledge of disease warning signs, awareness of preventive measures, knowledge of available health services, and understanding of appropriate actions when local health risks are identified. Data will be collected using structured questionnaires, standardized health-risk awareness assessment tools, community disease-mapping records, community health surveillance reports, health facility records where appropriate, and relevant public health programme documents. Descriptive statistics will be used to summarize participants' characteristics, exposure to disease-mapping projects, and awareness of local health risks. Inferential statistical techniques, including chi-square tests, t-tests, correlation analysis, and logistic or multiple regression analysis where appropriate, will be used to determine the impact of community disease-mapping projects on awareness of local health risks. Where a quasi-experimental design is adopted, awareness scores before and after implementation of the disease-mapping project may be compared with those of a comparison community to determine changes associated with the intervention. Diagnostic tests will also be conducted to assess the reliability, validity, and robustness of the findings. The study is expected to find that community disease-mapping projects have a significant positive impact on awareness of local health risks among residents in Nigeria. Residents who have access to clear and locally relevant disease maps are expected to demonstrate greater awareness of common health risks, disease distribution patterns, environmental hazards, and appropriate preventive measures than residents without comparable exposure. Visual presentation of health information may make complex disease patterns easier to understand and may help residents relate health risks to specific locations and environmental conditions within their communities. Community participation in mapping activities may further strengthen residents' understanding by allowing them to contribute local knowledge and discuss health concerns with public health personnel. Disease-mapping information may also encourage communities to identify areas requiring sanitation improvements, vector-control activities, health education, or increased healthcare attention. However, incomplete surveillance data, inaccurate reporting, limited community participation, poor map accessibility, inadequate digital infrastructure, concerns about privacy and stigma, and difficulties interpreting technical information may reduce effectiveness. The study therefore expects accurate, regularly updated, accessible, and community-oriented disease-mapping projects to contribute significantly to improved awareness of local health risks among residents in Nigeria. The study is expected to contribute to the literature on community disease mapping, health surveillance, geographic health information, environmental health, health-risk communication, community participation, disease prevention, health education, and public health in Nigeria. The findings will provide useful information to the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, state ministries of health, local government health authorities, public health practitioners, epidemiologists, community health workers, development partners, community organizations, and policymakers regarding the potential use of geographic approaches in community health education and disease prevention. The study will also provide evidence-based recommendations for strengthening community-level disease surveillance, improving the accessibility and interpretation of disease maps, protecting confidentiality and reducing disease-related stigma, involving residents in health-risk mapping, regularly updating local disease information, and using mapped health-risk information to guide targeted health education and preventive interventions across Nigerian communities.

Keywords: Community disease mapping, local health risks, disease surveillance, health-risk awareness, geographic health information, community participation, health education, disease prevention, public health, Nigeria.