Vaccination Resistance, Religion and Attitudes to Science in Nigeria

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Vaccination Resistance, Religion and Attitudes to Science in Nigeria VACCINATION RESISTANCE, RELIGION AND ATTITUDES TO SCIENCE IN NIGERIA Falade, Bankole Adebayo A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Department of Social Psychology, London School of Economics and Political Science, London. January 2014 Page | 1 Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it). The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. I warrant that this authorisation does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that my thesis consists of 71,596 words. I can confirm that my thesis was copy edited for conventions of language, spelling and grammar by Transformat Ltd, London. Falade, Bankole A Page | 2 Abstract The 2003 to 2004 revolt against the Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) in Nigeria provides a case study for investigating how a new scientific phenomenon becomes part of common sense in a culture with high levels of religiosity. Moscovici’s Social Representations Theory about how society familiarises itself with the unfamiliar provides a framework for the research which includes two media analyses, historical texts, online and paper administered surveys and interviews. The media analyses examine the OPV controversy and science in the media. Correspondence analysis provides a geometric tool for visualising how the variables in both media analyses position themselves for the construction of genres of science news. Factor analysis groups the attitude items in the survey while logistic regression predicts outcomes controlling for other variables. The media analyses found coverage of science in the period under review was generally positive and grew continually. The coverage of the OPV controversy was also generally positive but did not always mirror faithfully public opinion. Just as some Parisians in Moscovoci’s study likened psychoanalysis to a “symptom of an American invasion”, the initial description of the OPV by the people of northern Nigeria was a “western conspiracy against Muslims.” The survey found different levels of trust in public institutions with scientists and religious leaders similarly rated. Pessimism, fear and progress characterise the attitude variables but the association with knowledge is not linear and confirms the influence of cultural values. Interviewees also confirm survey findings in that they simultaneously have faith in religion and in science. Common sense in Nigeria is a mixture of science and religiosity and the public hold both in reverence: a phenomenon Moscovici refers to as cognitive polyphasia. The study also supports Durkheim’s view that science (in Nigeria) depends on public opinion. Key words: Resistance, religion, representations, media and science in Nigeria. Page | 3 Table of contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... 3 Table of contents .......................................................................................................................... 4 Table of figures ............................................................................................................................. 7 List of Tables ................................................................................................................................ 9 Thesis overview .......................................................................................................................... 12 Research questions ..................................................................................................................... 15 Chapter summaries .................................................................................................................... 19 Chapter 1 The Nigeria context: Science in religious and tribal pluralism ........................ 22 1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 22 1.2 The Oral Polio Vaccine Controversy .................................................................................... 22 1.3 The emergence of religious and tribal pluralism ................................................................. 24 1.4 The emergence of democratic pluralism .............................................................................. 29 1.5 Science, religion, regions and democracy ............................................................................. 33 1.6 Summary ................................................................................................................................. 39 Chapter 2 Public resistance to vaccination programmes.................................................... 42 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 42 2.2 Vaccination resistance in history: 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. ...................................... 42 2.3 Vaccination resistance in Northern Nigeria: 2001 to 2009 ................................................. 50 2.4 Poliomyelitis: Aetiology and control ..................................................................................... 58 2.5 Vaccines: Victim of success? ................................................................................................. 61 2.6 Summary ................................................................................................................................. 63 Chapter 3 Theoretical elaboration: Science in common sense ........................................... 66 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 66 3.2 Science and religion................................................................................................................ 66 3.3 Science and risk (the engineering approach) ....................................................................... 70 3.4 Science and the public (the scientific establishment) .......................................................... 74 3.5 Science and Social Representations ...................................................................................... 80 3.6 Social representations, public opinion, media and rumours .............................................. 90 3.7 Summary ................................................................................................................................. 96 Chapter 4 Triangulation of multiple data streams .............................................................. 98 4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 98 Page | 4 4.2 Triangulation for social representations .............................................................................. 98 4.3 Analysis of science news ....................................................................................................... 103 4.4 Public understanding of science survey .............................................................................. 115 4.4.1 Pilot online survey _____________________________________________________ 115 4.4.2 The expanded survey ___________________________________________________ 117 4.5 Living with science: Interviews, film reviews and field observations .............................. 128 4.6 Summary ............................................................................................................................... 129 Chapter 5 Analysis of science news ..................................................................................... 131 5.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 131 5.2 The Oral Polio Vaccine controversy in the press (2001 to 2009) ...................................... 131 5.2.1 Methods _____________________________________________________________ 132 5.2.2 Intensity of coverage and disease incidence __________________________________ 134 5.2.3 The themes in the controversy ____________________________________________ 136 5.2.4 Actors, themes and evaluation ____________________________________________ 143 5.3 Science news in the press (Guardian newspaper: 2001 – 2009) ........................................ 152 5.3.1 Methods _____________________________________________________________ 153 5.3.2 Intensity of coverage ___________________________________________________ 154 5.3.3 Journalistic practice ____________________________________________________ 156 5.3.4 What is present, what is propagated? _______________________________________ 157 5.3.5 How were the news sourced? _____________________________________________ 159 5.3.6 How were they presented? _______________________________________________ 161 5.3.7 The Guardian and herbal medicine _________________________________________ 167 5.4 Summary ..............................................................................................................................
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