Online Presence of Reproductive Health Advocacy Campaign Organisations and Knowledge of Sickle Cell Disease among Undergraduates of Two Private Universities in Oyo State

Abstract

Nigeria is one of the epicenters of the Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) with substantial cases. Globally, 
lack of knowledge of SCD especially people within the reproductive age is frequently attributed to 
the increase in recorded cases of SCD. Therefore, this study investigates online presence of 
reproductive health advocacy campaign organisations and knowledge of sickle cell disease among 
undergraduates of two private universities in Oyo State. The study is anchored on Information 
Processing Theory; it adopted exploratory sequential research design involving content analysis 
and descriptive survey research design. Qualitative data involved ten health advocacy 
organisations; through content analysis using non/frequency counts and contingency data analysis; 
quantitative data collection involved a sample of 323 undergraduates of Lead City University and 
Kola Daisi University using self-developed 'Social Media Sickle Cell Advocacy Campaign 
Questionnaire' administered on Google forms and analysed using descriptive and inferential 
statistics, Findings revealed that ten advocacy organisations have online presence majorly on 
Twitter (70%), Instagram (70%) and Facebook (70%); fully involved in providing online support 
services through informative sharing of educational contents, research findings, organising 
conferences and fund raising. Findings further revealed that majority of the undergraduates have a 
good knowledge of SCD which suggested that online advocacy campaigns effectively enhance 
their knowledge. Again, there was a significant relationship between social media advocacy 
campaigns and the level of knowledge of SCD (0.701; P=0.000). The study concludes that social 
media platforms are potential and powerful tools for disseminating health information and suggest 
its intensive and proactive use among the young people.