Literature 1

The media, health behaviour and health policies As canvassed by the agenda setting theory, the media are primary factors that shape the society. In the process of performing their functions as ascribed to them in relevant laws (in Nigeria, it is contained in section 22 of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria), the media play a role in influencing health behaviour and shaping government policies and programmes in the health sector. The media of communication such as newspaper, magazine, radio, TV and Internet-based media are important agents of any society. It is also in consideration of the important role of the media that they are regarded as the fourth estate of the realm, after the executive, judiciary and legislature. The three important issues in health communication are as follows: health behaviour, health policies and health programmes. Maryon-Davis [14] highlighted three areas that the media of communication can be useful for health promotion to include public information, social marketing and media advocacy. According to the researcher, through public information, the media educate the general public on health issues. With the use of social marketing tactics, the mass media of communication engage with the general public and trigger them to accept and apply certain health behaviour in their daily interactions. Finally, Maryon-Davis adds that with the application of media advocacy strategy, the mass media of communication can raise awareness on health policies with a view to improving the wellness of the general public. It is noteworthy that the three strategies are typically used in combination when using the media for health promotion [15]. Health behaviour is any action that a person engages in that has an implication on his or her health. This explanation is broad because health behaviour has two perspectives. The first angle is health behaviour that is beneficial to a person’s health (Conner 2002). This behaviour can be regarded as positive health behaviour. Such behaviour within the context of COVID-19 may include regular hand washing, social distancing, avoiding touching one’s face with unwashed hands, staying at home, among others. On the other hand, there are health behaviours that are dangerous to a person’s health. Such behaviour makes a person vulnerable to diseases and ailments. Examples of such behaviour, within the context of the current study, include going to crowded places, shaking hands indiscriminately, among others. Media coverage of health issues is also likely to elicit changes in policies and programmes of government or the introduction of new ones. The government of every country is usually at the forefront of improving the health sector through budgetary provision and other interventions that will make the health sector viable. Over the years, media coverage of health issues and how such coverage impact on behaviour has been examined. Ankomah et al. [16] examined the impact of radio programmes on the utilization of anti-malaria commodities and reported that people who are exposed to radio messages on the benefits of utilizing anti-malaria commodities are likely to modify their health behaviour based on the media content than those not exposed. Gupta and Sinha [7] did a study to ascertain how the media report health issues and found that both electronic and print media gave less attention to health matters when compared with other issues like crime, politics and entertainment. Onyeizu and Binta [8] in their study found that even though health issues were well reported in the media, they appeared mostly as straight news story with less prominence given to health issues among the media examined. Galiani et al. [17] examined how media contents on hand washing influence health behaviour. Their result showed that there was no significant link between media messages and hand washing among the sample studied. Bowen [18] did a study to ascertain the link between media messages and the utilization of treated bed net in Cameroon and reported that a significant association exists between both variables. The point to make here is that the mass media of communication are essential in health promotion, health behaviour and policy advocacy. Studies examined above paid less attention in looking at the role of time as moderators of media coverage of health issues in general and infectious diseases in general. The world and COVID-19 COVID-19 was first reported in the city of Wuhan in China in December of 2019. As at that time, it was largely regarded as a Chinese problem that was also going to end in China. According to Wu et al. [19] in an article which was published by Journal of the Chinese Medical Association, COVID-19 was first reported in late December in Wuhan and quickly spread to other places in China and eventually, other parts of the world. In Nigeria, COVID-19 was first confirmed on 27 February 2020. This was after the virus was reported in many other parts of the world like United States, Italy, Russia, among others. This means that Nigeria had ample time to prepare for the outbreak. There have been many global confirmed cases of COVID-19 with several fatalities. The World Health Organization [20] says there is a total of 5 267 419 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as at 25 May 2020. It adds that a total of 341 155 have died of the virus. The situation, when compared with 1 month ago from May 25, is frightening. This is because as at 25 April 2020, there were only 2 710 948 confirmed cases globally and 187 844 deaths. These figures represent multiple increases in the number of cases. WHO also reported that in Nigeria, there were a total of 7839 confirmed cases and 226 deaths as at 25 May 2020. This figure represented an exponential increase because as at 25 April 2020, Nigeria had only 1095 confirmed cases with only 32 deaths, but a month later, these increased more than four times. COVID-19 has proven that the global health system is still vulnerable and that the world is not as advanced in science as the 21st century has made us to believe. COVID-19 has rather shown that the interconnectedness of global economy has made the world vulnerable such that what happens in one country can have a significant impact on the entire world. COVID-19 has impacted significantly on almost every part of the world. It has grounded economic activities, schools are shut down, places of worship have been deserted, international flights have been very limited, if not completely stopped. There is a near total lockdown as people are encouraged to stay at home. Governments of countries have placed restrictions on movement both locally and internationally. Peoples’ sources of livelihood have been threatened. The world has many lessons to learn from COVID-19 both now and when it will finally be contained. Theoretical framework We made use of agenda setting theory to articulate this study. The theory originated from a 1922 book written by Walter Lippmann [21] with the title Public Opinion. Lippmann in the opening of the book had painted a picture of a 1914 scenario in which a few Englishmen, Frenchmen and Germans lived in an Island with no cable access, but got to know of a British mail steamer that usually circulated once in every 60 days. However, it happened that in the month of September, the mail steamer was yet to visit, but the islanders were still discussing the latest newspaper which its content was about the forth coming trial of Madame Caillaux for the shooting of Gaston Calmette. Lippmann narrated further that the people conglomerated with high expectations on a day in mid-September to know from the captain what the judgment had been. They realized that for over 6 weeks, those of them who were English and those of them who were French had been fighting on behalf of the sanctity of treaties against those of them who were Germans. Lippmann then asserted that for six consecutive weeks, they had behaved as though they were friends, when they were not. By this explanation, Lippmann had painted a picture of the power of the media in setting agenda for the public. The inhabitants of the island did not act as enemies because of their ignorance of what was happening. Although Lippmann did not specifically mention agenda setting power of the media, he provided a sketch in this regard. Lippmann had attributed the images in the minds of the public to media contents [22–26]. Also, Cohen [27, p. 13] avers that ‘the media may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think about’. Soroka [28] posits that Cohen’s assertion remains the clearest and most frequently cited annunciation of the public agenda-setting hypothesis. A clear postulation of the agenda setting theory was done by McCombs and Shaw after a 1972 study of 100 undecided voters in Chapel Hill to determine the correlation between voters’ agenda and media agenda. The result showed a significant correlation between media content and issue agenda. McCombs and Shaw thus conclude: In choosing and displaying news, editors, newsroom staff, and broadcasters play an important part in shaping political reality. Readers learn not only about a given issue, but also how much importance to attach to that issue from the amount of information in a news story and its position. Gever [26] tested the agenda setting theory through a sample of 400 respondents and reported that the media are effective in setting agenda for the general public. Within the context of this study, the media, it can be argued, have the ability to set agenda for the general public when COVID-19 was first reported in China. They could have done this by educating the public to adopt the appropriate health behaviour that will help them survive the health challenge should it spread to Nigeria. Also, the media could have drawn the attention of the government on the pending danger by letting them know why it was needed to take preventive measures. Therefore, we made use of the agenda setting theory to ascertain how the Nigerian media exercise its agenda setting ability in times of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methodology