Awareness, Perception and Practice Of COVID 19 Prevention among Residents of a State in the South-South Region Of Nigeria: Implications for Public Health Control Efforts

ABSTRACT Background This research explored awareness, perception, and practice of COVID 19 prevention among residents of communities in all the local government areas (districts) in Rivers State during the early stages of the pandemic response. Design This was a descriptive cross-sectional survey which employed an interviewer-administered four-page questionnaire built into the Open Data Kit application for android phones. Knowledge and practice scores were computed by scoring every correct response/action as 1 and wrong responses as 0. Knowledge was graded as excellent for scores of ≥80%, good for scores of 50-79% and poor for scores of <50%. Respondents who washed all critical parts of the hand were categorized as having correct handwashing practice. Setting Rivers State in the South-South region of Nigeria had recorded over 2000 cases of COVID 19 as of 18th August 2020, ranking 5th among the high burden states in Nigeria. As with any epidemic of an infectious nature, panic, fear, and misconceptions are rife. Risk communication utilizes multi-faceted activities geared towards facilitating correct and consistent knowledge and prevention practice. Participants Study involved 1,294 adult community residents in the 23 districts of the state. Results The respondents were aged between 18 and 80 years with average age of 39.6 years (SD = 11.9 years). A total of 710 (54.9%) were male, 476 (36.8%) were unemployed with 685 (52.9%) having secondary education. Almost all respondents 1,271 (98.2%) had heard about COVID 19. The three most common sources of information about COVID 19 were radio jingles 1102 (86.7%), television adverts 940 (74.0%) and announcements in Church 612 (48.2%). Overall, 608 (47.0%) of the respondents had poor knowledge of COVID 19. About 1167 (90.2%) of the respondents who were aware of COVID 19 acknowledged that COVID 19 is a problem in the state while 443 (34.9%) respondents believed they were unlikely contract the virus. Only 505 (39.0%) of the respondents washed all critical parts of the hand correctly. Conclusion Risk communication interventions during pandemics need to be based on an understanding of the gaps in knowledge, attitude, perceptions, and practice. Broadcast media has a pivotal role to play in risk communication for behaviour change for the control of current and future epidemics in this population.