Assessment of adherence to public health measures and their impact on the COVID-19 outbreak in Benin Republic, West Africa

Abstract

Introduction following the global COVID-19 outbreak, the government of Benin implemented preventive measures to stall viral transmission. We sought to evaluate adherence of the Beninese people to these preventive measures, in order to identify predictors of poor adherence and adapt the national response to COVID-19. Methods two consecutive online surveys were conducted between May and August 2020. Four hundred and sixty two and 507 adult participants aged 18 years and above responded to the first and second survey respectively, with >70% being males Results more than 98% of respondents reported wearing face masks. A five-point adherence score was constituted by scoring observance to key preventive measures (mask use, physical distancing, hand hygiene, coughing hygiene and avoiding to touch one´s face). We observed that the mean adherence scores were fairly stable over time, respectively 4.08 and 4.03 during the first and second survey (p=0.439). Increasing age (aOR=1.043, 95% CI: 1.026 - 1.061; p<0.001) and obtaining COVID-19 information from official sources (aOR=1.628, 95% CI: 1.275 - 2.081; p<0.001) were significantly associated with higher adherence scores in a multivariable model. Conclusion these findings suggest that a wide dissemination of adequate information about COVID-19 would increase adherence, and that targeted efforts should be directed towards increasing the compliance to preventive measures among the younger age groups

COVID-19 in Africa: An Explorative Cross-Sectional Analysis of Twenty-One African Countries From January to June 2020

“…A perspective paper published by a group of early-career African scientists showed that 'the strengths of early initiated interventions may have contributed to modest and slower dynamics of COVID-19 in Sub-Saharan countries' like our finding [ 23 ]. This is despite the varying levels of adherence of Africans (low to high) [ 24 - 28 ].…”

Adherence to COVID-19 preventive measures in Sub-Saharan Africa during the 1st year of the pandemic: Pooled analysis of the International Citizen Project on COVID-19 (ICPCovid) surveys

“…In Mozambique, the majority of the study population worked from home during both periods of the study, suggesting that community preventive measures were strictly observed by public and private institutions, possibly enhancing adherence to individual measures as well ( 11 ). Meanwhile in Benin, the government did not opt for a radical lockdown but rather insisted on more friendly barrier measures while allowing free movement of people ( 9 ); we presume that complying with this non-stringent strategy was not difficult, and therefore adherence scores remained more or less constant throughout the study duration in Benin. We further observed a rise in face mask usage during Period 2, and a decreased observance of other COVID-19 preventive measures, including physical distancing.…”

“…Participating countries included: Benin, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mozambique, Somalia, and Uganda. The datasets used in this study are from (9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14).…”

What Prompted the Adoption of Self-Protective Behaviors in Response to COVID-19? Evidence From Women Living in the Rural Areas of Western China

“…We examined this potential association and found that exposure to public health guidance, particularly the government-endorsed individual precaution measures, was associated with greater perceived efficacy. Previous evidence has shown that official reports by the government and health education campaigns that promote self-protective behaviors were critical in slowing the spread of disease (57,58). Most women in rural areas are not well-educated and have limited household assets (59,60).…”