Page 8 - IJPS-10-1

International Journal of
Population Studies Editorial

Adedini et al. (2024) reported findings from a scoping Special Issue aligns with the Sustainable Development
review on the impact of COVID-19 on access to family Goals that emphasize inclusiveness and espouse the spirit
planning among women in the SSA. They concluded that of “leaving no one behind.” The development and mass
lockdowns and movement restrictions posed barriers rollout of COVID-19 vaccines were major breakthroughs
to accessing family planning services. The authors also in face of the enormous threats posed by the scourge.
emphasized the need for public health measures to In view of antecedents about attitudes toward children’s
control disease outbreaks in a way that ensures existing immunization in parts of Nigeria, it was essential to
interventions and services are not disrupted, preventing assess the level of vaccine hesitancy so that approaches to
the reversal of prior gains. addressing misconceptions and misinformation through
public health education and advocacy can be formulated.
Another scoping review by Ikutejijo et al. (2024) focused
on the demand and supply of sexual and reproductive The paper by Olaleye and Akande (2024) reported a
healthcare (SRH) services for adolescents and young cross-sectional survey conducted among internet users.
people in the SSA during the COVID-19 pandemic. This Almost half of the participants expressed hesitancy about
study highlighted an increased demand for SRH services the COVID-19 vaccine and doubts about its safety and
during the pandemic, which was however not met due to efficacy. Despite the potential bias in the selection of
the serious disruptions to the supply chain. Despite these survey participants, the results portray a fair depiction of
challenges, program managers and leaders in several SSA the general perception about the vaccine. Therefore, the
countries played crucial roles to circumvent the obstacles. findings provide useful information that can be leveraged
Furthermore, adolescents and young people resorted for advocacy and health education programs regarding
to alternative means, including the use of alternative outbreak prevention and control.
medicine, to endure the time when SRH services and A fresh and innovative perspective on this topic was
commodities were in short supply. This paper also revealed provided in a paper by Adewoyin and Odimegwu (2024),
useful strategies to bridge the demand-supply gap in SRH which explored the drivers of vaccination willingness
services during public health emergencies. among South Africans. The findings from a national survey
Asogwa et al. (2024) reported findings from a qualitative showed that risk beliefs, self-reported health status, and
study based in rural Southeast Nigeria regarding the access knowing someone infected by COVID-19 were the main
of adolescents to SRH services during the COVID-19 factors associated with willingness to be vaccinated. These
pandemic. The in-depth interviews conducted by the results provide insights into what should be addressed
authors revealed that limited access to SRH products and in risk communications during pandemics and disease
services during the pandemic, which was exacerbated by outbreaks.
fear and non-utilization of qualified healthcare services, Parent-adolescent communication plays a pivotal
resulted in increased cases of unintended pregnancies. role in SRH education and intergenerational transfer of
The age pattern of deaths during the COVID-19 sociocultural norms, values, and practices. A qualitative
pandemic revealed that older adults constitute the greatest study by Odii (2024) (2024) in Southeast Nigeria explored
portion of the casualties. One explanation for this was the how parent-adolescent communication played out during
high prevalence of chronic and degenerative diseases that the COVID-19 outbreak. Very often, parents receive
were often complicated by multimorbidity in older persons. information about health safety and disease prevention
This provides a justification as to why most countries from electronic media and then pass it on to their adolescent
prioritized administration of COVID-19 vaccines to children. This paper also showed that compliance with
senior citizens when the vaccines were first rolled out. In the COVID-19 control measures by the children at home
their paper, Ebimgbo et al. (2024) reported the perceptions could be achieved by threatening and educating using
of older adults in Southeast Nigeria toward the COVID-19 religious ethos. Nevertheless, the author argued that this
vaccine, using “a descriptive phenomenology design.” may not be healthy for the psychosocial well-being of the
Typical of rural African older adults, they manifested adolescents; therefore, adolescent-friendly approaches are
strong hesitancy or resistance to vaccination for the needed for risk communications during disease outbreaks.
reasons “they were not sick” and “the vaccine itself would The Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and Regular
cause other diseases.” The work described in this paper Migration (GCM) emphasizes the critical roles of data
is distinct from other works surrounding the theme of in migration management. Taking a cue from this treaty
population and reproductive health, which predominantly endorsed by 152 countries, Muyonga (2024) conducted
focus on studying women and adults aged 15 – 49 years, a systematic review of how migration data and statistics
leaving out older adults. The inclusion of this paper in this were deployed by the East African Community (EAC)

Volume 10 Issue 1 (2024) 2 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.2535