Research Journal of Medical Sciences 2 (4): 185-189,2008 ISSN: 1815-9346 - -~ I 0 Medwell Journals, - 2008 Awareness and Attitude to Social and Health Hazards from Generator Use in Anyigba, Nigeria 'Tanimola M. Akande and ZJuliusO. Owoyemi 'Department of Epid and Community Health, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria 'Department of Sociology, Kogi State University, Anyigba, Nigeria Abstract: Electricity supply in Nigeria is erratic and supply grossly inadequate. This has forced many Nigerians to use electric generators as alternative source of power supply. The use of the generators has resulted in having to cope with hazards associated with it. This study was carried out to examine the awareness and attitude of people to the hazards associated with use of generators. Descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted using self-administered structured questionnaire on 360 randomly selected respondents in Anyigba town in middle-belt Nigeria. Proportion of respondents (73.2%) that use of generators was very high. Majority (78.2%) of the respondents who owned generators were aware of the social and health hazards associated with generator use. More than half, 183 (56.6%) of the respondents felt that they were prone to hazards from generator use, while (85.5%) thought neighbours of generator users are exposed to noise hazard. Majority of the respondents were favourably disposed to the plight of their neighbour when accosted due to disturbance from generator use.. There is a high level of generator use in the study population due to lack of and erratic public electricity power supply. This exposes people to a lot of hazards particularly noise. To ameliorate social and health hazards associated with use of generators in Nigeria, government should intensify efforts in boosting public power supply. Users of generators need to make effort to reduce exposure of people to noise and other hazards. Key words: Awareness, generator use, hazards, Nigeria LNTRODUCTION With modernization, electricity use has become an essential need for most people in developing countries. Electricity is used for domestic, commercial and industrial purpose among other forms of its use. Most cities and towns in Nigeria are connected to the national power grid. However, supply from the national grid has been a major problem in Nigeria for about a decade and people now have to get alternative source of power supply. In 1999, the power generated in Nigeria was 1500 MW which is far short of the energy need in the country (TNVS, 2003). Current power generation of about 3000 MW in a counhy with a population of 150 million is too low when compared with power generation of about 40,000 MW in South Africa with a population of 45 million. Availability and reliability of electricity supplies have always been a vexed issue in Nigeria (Ibitoye and Adenikinju, 2007). The major form of alternative power supply in Nigeria is from electric generators. Use of electric generators is now very common in most parts of Nigeria. Because of the irregular public electric power supply in Nigeria, small scale businesses that would have been essentially noiseless produce heavy noise pollution from generators (Akande and Ologe, 2001). This has resulted in having to wpe with some hazards associated with generator use. Common hazards associated with generator include social and health hazards like noise pollution, carbon monoxide air pollution. These hazards are not limited to the users of electric generators alone but also affect people living in the neighbourhood. The main health risks of noise as identified by the World Health Organization include: pain and hearing fatigue; hearing impairment including tinnitus, annoyance; interference with social behaviour (aggressiveness, protest and helplessness); sleep disturbance, cardiovascular effects; hormonal responses (stress hormones) (WHO, 2004). In developing countries, there is a dearth of enforced noise control laws, noise pollution can pose severe hearing impairment and other health risks. Corresponding Author: Tanimola M. Akande, Department of Epid and Community Health, College of Health Sciences, University of Ilorin, P.M.B. 1515, Ilorin, Nigeria 185