A Preliminary Assessment of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Knowledge and Perceptions in Nigeria

Abstract

This study assessed knowledge and perceptions about COVID-19 among the general public in Nigeria during the initial week of the pandemic lockdown in the country. From March 28 to April 4, 2020, this cross-sectional survey used an anonymous online questionnaire to collect data from respondents within Nigeria. Purposive and snowball sampling techniques were used to recruit 1357 respondents, aged 15-70 years, from 180 cities and towns within Nigeria. Study data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Approximately more than half (57.02%) of the respondents were male with high level of education (48.86% bachelor's degree or higher). Approximately half of the respondents (46.94%) opined that COVID-19 was -a biological weapon designed by the Chinese government.‖ About 94% of the respondents identified -contact with airborne droplets via breathing, sneezing, or coughing‖ as the most common mode of transmission; most respondents associated COVID-19 with coughing (81.13%), shortness of breath (73.47%) and fever (62.79%). -Regular hand washing and social distancing‖ was selected by most respondents (94.25%) as a way of preventing infection whereas 11.86% reported -consuming gins, garlic, ginger, herbal mixtures and African foods/soups‖ as preventive measures against COVID-19. Majority of the respondents (91.73%) thought COVID-19 is deadly; and most respondents (84.3%) got 4 or more answers correctly. It was also observed that the traditional media (TV/Radio) are the most common source of health information about COVID-19 (93.5%). Findings revealed that Nigerians have relatively high knowledge, mostly derived from traditional media, about COVID-19. Their perceptions of COVID-19 bear implications across public health initiatives, compliance with precautionary behavior as well as bilateral relations with foreign nations. Evidence-based campaign should be intensified to remove misconceptions and promote precautionary measures.

Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices Towards COVID-19: An Epidemiological Survey in North-Central Nigeria

“…This survey was dominated by male (59.6%) and single (60.1%) respondents who are mostly educated up to college (Bachelor) degree or above (90.4%) with an overall 99.5% awareness of COVID-19 thus, depicting that the respondents are knowledgeable about COVID-19 pandemic. In agreement with our findings, previous studies conducted in different Asian countries [5,[19][20][21], Egypt, Kenya and Nigeria [1,22,23] indicated high COVID-19 knowledge among the population. The high level of COVID-19 knowledge recorded in this study could be attributed to the caliber of respondents who participated in the survey.…”

“…As part of the protective measures against COVID-19, 45.3% of the respondents believed prayer is also effectual in COVID-19 prevention. This agrees with the previous findings of a KAP survey on COVID-19 within a Nigerian population [23]. This finding is consistent with the strict religious adherence and beliefs among Nigerians which foster increasing carefree and lackadaisical attitudes of the populace, making the majority of the population to resort to only prayers and religious rituals during disease outbreaks without recourse to laid down IPC measures [27].…”

Knowledge and perceptions of COVID-19 among government employees in Ethiopia

“…Similar surveys conducted at the early phase of the pandemic in Ethiopia also showed social media and television to be the main source of information about COVID-19 [13,14]. In Nigeria, the most common sources of information about COVID-19 were identified as television and radio, followed by social media and the internet [42]. Under health emergency circumstances, adequate literature or reading materials may not be readily available, and in such situation, television, radio, internet and social media play a major role in providing up-to-date information to the public.…”

The knowledge and practice towards COVID-19 pandemic prevention among residents of Ethiopia: An Online Cross-Sectional Study

“…The main source information for the participants was social media, followed by the Television, which is in line with the multinational study done in India (Kamate, et al 2020). But it is in contradict with a study done in Nigeria in which the main source of information was mass media (Olapegba et al, 2020). It is obvious that during the development of a newly emerging disease like coronavirus, there might not be enough published literature on local or international journals.…”

“…Africa's already fragile health systems, coupled with a high burden of would cost the continent greatly. The speed with which countries can detect report and respond to outbreaks can be a reflection of their wider institutional capacity (Ikhaq, Riaz et al 2020, Olapegba et al 2020. The threat of COVID-19 to health systems in Africa can be compared with a metaphor which says "the eye of the crocodile"; which means in the lake, only the eyes of the crocodile is visible on the surface while the rest of the body is immersed in water.…”