<b>RESPONSES TO HEALTH MESSAGES IN A CONCURRENT MULTIPLE INFECTIOUS DISEASE OUTBREAK AND POST-CONFLICT CONTEXT: THE MESSAGE FATIGUE EFFECT</b>

<p dir="ltr">This study examines how communities in post-conflict settings respond to public health messaging during concurrent multiple infectious disease outbreaks (CMIDO), revealing critical insights into message fatigue and behavioral compliance. Through an exploratory sequential mixed-methods approach, I investigated how repeated exposure to health messages and crisis including Ebola, COVID-19, and Lassa fever, combined with ongoing post-conflict stressors, creates a cycle of desensitization that undermines public health interventions. The findings demonstrate that accumulated societal shocks lead to message fatigue, which increases inattention and cognitive reactance to health communications, ultimately reducing individuals’ willingness to adopt protective behaviors like mask-wearing, vaccination, and social distancing. Notably, while CMIDO experience predicted higher levels of message fatigue, post-conflict stressors showed an unexpectedly protective effect against such fatigue. The research highlights the urgent need for communication and public health practitioners to develop more nuanced, context-sensitive messaging strategies that account for communities’ cumulative trauma exposure and tailor interventions to prevent desensitization, ensuring that critical health messages maintain their effectiveness even in the face of multiple overlapping crises.</p>