Awareness, perceived risk and protective behaviours of Myanmar adults on COVID-19

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 was originated from Wuhan city, China in December 2019 and spread very fast to all over the world. This study was carried out to assess the awareness, perceived risk and protective behaviours of Myanmar adults on COVID-19.Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted using face to face interview method among 597 adults from Yangon and Bago regions. Binary logistic regression analysis was done to determine the factors influencing on practicing protective behaviours and the results were described by adjusted odds ratios (aOR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI).Results: Almost all, 584 (98%) of 597 respondents, have heard about COVID-19. Among those 584 respondents, 87% had low knowledge level. Risk perception level towards COVID-19 was moderate to high. Regarding perception to information in social media, about 36% of the respondents agreed on sharing news from social media without verifying the sources. Only 22% reported good protective behaviours. Multivariable analysis revealed that knowledge score (aOR=1.19, 95% CI- 1.08-1.30) was significantly and positively influenced the protective behaviours. The odds of protective behaviour of participants from Ayeyarwaddy (aOR=0.41, 95% CI- 0.19-0.91) and other states and regions (aOR=0.49, 95% CI- 0.24-0.99) were significantly less than those of participants from Yangon.Conclusions: The study concluded that community has no enough knowledge and inadequate protective behaviours to prevent COVID-19. The awareness raising activities and mass media health education should urgently be conducted focusing on hand washing, cough etiquette, social distancing behaviours and responsibility to inform suspected cases to local health authority to prevent COVID-19. Further research using nationally represented sample are warranted.

Assessment on Awareness Towards Preventive Measures of COVID-19 in Sheka, South Nation Nationalities and Peoples of Region, Southwestern Ethiopia: Community Based Cross-Sectional Study

“…The results showed that gender, educational level, and preventive strategies are signi cant factors in the understanding of individuals. These ndings were similar to the study conducted in Myanmar adults on awareness, perceived risk, and protective behaviors to COVID-19 and in Saudi Arabia [20], [24].…”

“…The study found that mass media and public health care workers were the most important sources of information for Sheka Zone, Tepi Town city administration individual's awareness towards COVID-19. These ndings were similar to Myanmar adults study the familiar sources were social media and mass media [20]. Also in Hong Kong study in which their common sources were social platform and mass media but different with health care workers study in which their primary sources were not only social media but also o cial government websites [21], [22] and in Pakistan healthcare professionals study [23].…”

Assessment on awareness towards preventive measures of COVID-19 in Sheka, Ethiopia: Community based cross-sectional Study

“…The study found that mass media and public health care workers were the most important sources of information for Sheka Zone, Tepi Town administration individual's awareness towards COVID-19. These ndings were similar to Myanmar adults study the familiar sources were social media and mass media [20].Also in Hong Kong study in which their common sources were social platform and mass media but different with health care workers study in which their primary sources were not only social media but also o cial government websites [21], [22] and in Pakistan healthcare professionals study [23].…”

Perceived risk, anxiety and protective health behaviours during the early phase of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Nigeria

“…Results from this study showed that about 6 out of every 10 of respondents had a high level of perceived risk of contracting COVID-19. This is signi cantly higher compared to ndings among Myanmar population where less than one-fourth of respondents had high level of risk perception towards COVID-19 (Mya et al, 2020). The elevated perceived risk level might be attributed to disparity in country experience.…”