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While many studies have investigated how religious preferences and particular socio-cultural identities may affect the ability of governments in Africa to manage and administer public health interventions to its citizens during specific epidemics or localized public health emergencies, none has been able to explore how adherence to global religious tenets impacts national response during a worldwide pandemic. This chapter attempts to fill that void. To do so, we use a quantitatively driven survey experimental method to investigate the competing influence of religion and civil governance on the health behaviors of Nigerians during the COVID-19 pandemic. We discuss the public health implication of our findings for governments across Africa.

The reluctance of people to receive safe and recommended available vaccines is a well-documented public health challenge. As information and communication technologies evolve, this challenge gets more complex and even harder to manage during complex public health situations. In this experimental study, we examine the relationship between vaccine information frames (with scientific information vs. without scientific information) and channels (through government vs. religious organizations) and vaccination willingness in the U.S. in the context of a pandemic. Additionally, we evaluate the interaction between vaccine skepticism, vaccine information frames, and vaccine information channels on vaccination willingness. This experimental study uses data from Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTURK) to evaluate the relationships between vaccine skepticism, vaccine information frames, and channels on vaccination willingness. We find that contrary to our hypothesis, a vaccine advisory framed with scientific information decreases people’s vaccination willingness compared to one framed without scientific information. Additionally, the impact of framing on vaccination willingness is conditioned on participants’ skepticism—participants who hold skepticism toward the vaccine but received information framed with scientific information score significantly higher in vaccination willingness compared to participants who do not hold skepticism toward a vaccine. The results suggest that the factors impacting vaccination willingness are complex and nuanced. Thus, policymakers should be more strategic with the delivery of vaccination information, especially during complex health crises.