People’s willingness to use COVID-19 self-testing in Nigeria: a cross-sectional survey

Abstract

ObjectivesNigeria has been badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the poor testing coverage in the country may make controlling the spread of COVID-19 challenging. The aim of this study was to assess the general public’s acceptability of SARS-CoV-2 self-testing as an approach which could help to address this gap.SettingA household-based survey was conducted in five urban and five rural local government areas in the states of Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Benue, Kaduna and Lagos, in mid-2021.Participants2126 respondents (969 were female) participated. A five-pronged, probabilistic sampling approach was used to recruit individuals older than 17 years and available to participate when randomly approached in their households by the surveyors. A 35-item questionnaire was used to collect data on their values towards SARS-CoV-2 self-testing. Primary outcomes were: likelihood to use a self-test; willingness to pay for a self-test; and likely actions following a reactive self-test result.ResultsOf the total 2126 respondents, 14 (0.66%) were aware of COVID-19 self-testing, 1738 (81.80%) agreed with the idea of people being able to self-test for COVID-19, 1786 (84.05%) were likely/very likely to use self-tests if available, 1931 (90.87%) would report a positive result and 1875 (88.28%) would isolate if they self-tested positive. Factors significantly associated with the use of a self-test were having a college education or higher (adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR): 1.55; 95% CI: 1.03 to 2.33), full-time employment (AOR: 1.67; 95% CI: 1.06 to 2.63), feeling at moderate/high risk of COVID-19 (AOR: 2.43; 95% CI: 1.70 to 3.47) and presence of individuals at risk of COVID-19 within the household (AOR: 1.38; 95% CI: 1.06 to 1.78).ConclusionA majority of Nigerians agree with the concept of COVID-19 self-testing and would act to protect public health on self-testing positive. Self-test implementation research is necessary to frame how acceptability impacts uptake of preventive behaviours following a positive and a negative self-test result.

Public’s Willingness to Perform COVID-19 Self-Testing during the Transition to the Endemic Phase in Malaysia – A Population-Based Cross-Sectional Study

“…(31-33, 35, 36) In our study, almost all respondents who were willing to perform COVID-19 self-testing indicated that they will immediately self-isolate and seek treatment if their test result turned positive, demonstrating a high adherence to the "TRIIS" strategy. Similar to our study, reasons given by individuals who were willing to perform COVID-19 self-testing in other studies included getting the result faster, saving time on travelling and waiting at laboratories, and ensuring privacy (31,32).…”

“…Several factors have been identi ed to be associated with a higher willingness to perform COVID-19 selftesting. A higher education level was reported in ve studies, (17,30,32,35,36) full-time employment was reported in four studies, (32,(34)(35)(36) residents of rural area was reported in three studies, (31,33,35) and older age, (30,34) female gender, (30,34) previously investigated for COVID-19,(30, 32) and higher perceived risk of COVID-19 infection were reported in two studies, (30,32) respectively. Additionally, one study each reported that individuals who stayed with the elderly,(30) previously diagnosed with COVID-19, (34) had been vaccinated against COVID-19,(34) and possessed better knowledge about COVID-19 were more willing to perform COVID-19 self-testing.…”

“…Similarly, in China and Nigeria, individuals who had previously been investigated for COVID-19 also expressed a higher willingness to perform COVID-19 self-testing. (30,32) Only a small portion of the population in Indonesia (35.1%), (35) South Africa (24.5%), (31) and Kenya (12.2%) had been investigated for COVID-19 at the time of their respective studies. (33) Their willingness to perform COVID-19 self-testing was not affected by their previous investigation experience.…”

Public’s Willingness to Perform COVID-19 Self-Testing During the Transition to the Endemic Phase in Malaysia – A Population-Based Cross-Sectional Study

“…29 Other studies conducted during the early or midst of the COVID-19 pandemic reported varying levels of willingness to perform COVID-19 self-testing among their respective populations. For instance, a higher willingness rate was reported in South Africa (90.4%), 30 Nigeria (84.1%), 31 Kenya…”

Evaluation of COVID-19 antigen rapid diagnostic tests for self-testing in Lesotho and Zambia

“…Ag-RDT self-testing as a potential testing strategy appears both feasible [5][6][7][8] and acceptable [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. However, most of the evidence comes from high-and middle-income settings and there is very little evidence from SSA or other low and middle income areas [3,4,17].…”