COVID-19 knowledge and practices in Jigawa State, Nigeria: A cross-sectional survey conducted during the second wave

Julius Salako; Damola Bakare; Abiodun Sogbesan; Tim Colbourn; Funmilayo Shittu; Ayobami A Bakare; Obioma Uchendu; Hamish Graham; Eric D McCollum; Agnese Iuliano; Rochelle Ann Burgess; James Beard; Adegoke G Falade; Carina King; INSPIRING Consortium

doi:10.1371/journal.pgph.0003386

COVID-19 knowledge and practices in Jigawa State, Nigeria: A cross-sectional survey conducted during the second wave

PLOS Glob Public Health. 2024 Jul 1;4(7):e0003386. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0003386. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Julius Salako¹, Damola Bakare¹, Abiodun Sogbesan¹, Tim Colbourn², Funmilayo Shittu^{1

3}, Ayobami A Bakare^{3

4}, Obioma Uchendu^{4

5}, Hamish Graham⁶, Eric D McCollum⁷, Agnese Iuliano², Rochelle Ann Burgess², James Beard⁸, Adegoke G Falade^{1

9}, Carina King^{2

3}; INSPIRING Consortium

Affiliations

¹ Department of Paediatrics, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
² Institute for Global Health, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
³ Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁴ Department of Community Medicine, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria.
⁵ Department of Community Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
⁶ Murdoch Children's Research Institute, University of Melbourne Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia.
⁷ Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, United States of America.
⁸ Independant Consultant, United Kingdom.
⁹ Department of Paediatrics, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria.

Abstract

Population knowledge of COVID-19 and adherence to prevention measures may not be equitably distributed, limiting the success of public health measures. We aimed to understand whether COVID-19 knowledge differed by socio-economic status in a rural low-income setting of Jigawa State, Nigeria. We conducted a secondary analysis of the baseline cross-sectional survey of the INSPIRING cluster randomised controlled trial in Kiyawa Local Government Area, Jigawa State, from January-June 2021. Compounds were selected using simple random sampling proportional to trial cluster size. Within each compound, a representative head of compound and all women aged 16-49 years were eligible to complete a survey, which asked about socioeconomics, knowledge of COVID-19 symptoms, prevention strategies and risks for poor outcomes. We converted these into binary outcomes of "good knowledge" for symptoms, prevention and risks. Associations between woman and head of compound characteristics and good knowledge were assessed using adjusted logistic regression. We surveyed 3800 compound heads and 9564 women. Overall, <1% of respondents had been tested for COVID-19, but access to facemasks (HoC 60.0%; women 86.3%) and willingness to be vaccinated (HoC 73.9%; women 73.4%) were high. COVID-19 knowledge was low, with 33.2% of heads of compounds and 26.0% of women having good symptom knowledge, 39.5% and 30.4% having good prevention knowledge, and 17.7% and 15.4% having good risk knowledge, respectively. Those with more education, from higher wealth quintiles and access to a radio had better knowledge. Access to a mobile phone was associated with good symptom knowledge, but worse prevention and risk knowledge. We found significant differences in COVID-19 knowledge associated with socio-economic factors in rural Jigawa state, and access to communication devices was not consistently associated with better knowledge. Public health messaging in Nigeria needs to be adapted and delivered in way that ensures accessibility to all.

Copyright: © 2024 Salako et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Grants and funding

This work was funded through a grant from the GSK - Save the Children Partnership (grant reference: 82603743), awarded to AGF, TC and CK. Employees of both GSK (MMcC and TFO) and Save the Children (TA, SA, CC, PV, AO, IH, AM, IS) contributed to the design and oversight of the study as part of a co-design process. The funders had no role in the decision to publish and preparation of the manuscript. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author/publisher and do not necessarily represent those of Save the Children or GSK, unless otherwise specifically stated.