Department of Optometry and Vision Science, School of Allied Health Sciences, University of Cape Coast, 00233, Cape Coast, Ghana.
School of Management and Marketing, Faculty of Business and Law, Curtin University, Bentley, WA, 6151, Australia.
BMC Public Health. 2021 Aug 18;21(1):1562. doi: 10.1186/s12889-021-11600-3.
Perceived risk towards the coronavirus pandemic is key to improved compliance with public health measures to reduce the infection rates. This study investigated how Sub-Saharan Africans (SSA) living in their respective countries and those in the diaspora perceive their risk of getting infected by the COVID-19 virus as well as the associated factors.
A web-based cross-sectional survey on 1969 participants aged 18 years and above (55.1% male) was conducted between April 27th and May 17th 2020, corresponding to the mandatory lockdown in most SSA countries. The dependent variable was the perception of risk for contracting COVID-19 scores. Independent variables included demographic characteristics, and COVID-19 related knowledge and attitude scores. Univariate and multiple linear regression analyses identified the factors associated with risk perception towards COVID-19.
Among the respondents, majority were living in SSA (n = 1855, 92.8%) and 143 (7.2%) in the diaspora. There was no significant difference in the mean risk perception scores between the two groups (p = 0.117), however, those aged 18-28 years had lower risk perception scores (p = 0.003) than the older respondents, while those who were employed (p = 0.040) and had higher levels of education (p < 0.001) had significantly higher risk perception scores than other respondents. After adjusting for covariates, multivariable analyses revealed that SSA residents aged 39-48 years (adjusted coefficient, β = 0.06, 95% CI [0.01, 1.19]) and health care sector workers (β = 0.61, 95% CI [0.09, 1.14]) reported a higher perceived risk of COVID-19. Knowledge and attitude scores increased as perceived risk for COVID-19 increased for both SSAs in Africa (β = 1.19, 95% CI [1.05, 1.34] for knowledge; β = 0.63, 95% CI [0.58, 0.69] for attitude) and in Diaspora (β = 1.97, 95% CI [1.16, 2.41] for knowledge; β = 0.30, 95% CI [0.02, 0.58] for attitude).
There is a need to promote preventive measures focusing on increasing people's knowledge about COVID-19 and encouraging positive attitudes towards the mitigation measures such as vaccines and education. Such interventions should target the younger population, less educated and non-healthcare workers.
对冠状病毒大流行的感知风险是提高遵守减少感染率的公共卫生措施的关键。本研究调查了居住在各自国家的撒哈拉以南非洲人（SSA）和散居海外的非洲人对感染 COVID-19 病毒的风险的看法，以及相关因素。
2020 年 4 月 27 日至 5 月 17 日期间，对年龄在 18 岁及以上的 1969 名参与者（55.1%为男性）进行了基于网络的横断面调查，这对应于大多数撒哈拉以南非洲国家的强制性封锁。因变量是对感染 COVID-19 风险的感知评分。自变量包括人口统计学特征、COVID-19 相关知识和态度评分。单变量和多元线性回归分析确定了与 COVID-19 风险感知相关的因素。
在受访者中，大多数人居住在撒哈拉以南非洲（n=1855，占 92.8%），143 人（7.2%）居住在海外。两组之间的平均风险感知评分没有显著差异（p=0.117），然而，18-28 岁的年轻人比年龄较大的受访者的风险感知评分更低（p=0.003），而就业者（p=0.040）和受过更高教育者（p<0.001）的风险感知评分明显更高。调整协变量后，多变量分析显示，39-48 岁的撒哈拉以南非洲居民（调整系数，β=0.06，95%置信区间 [0.01，1.19]）和卫生保健部门的工作者（β=0.61，95%置信区间 [0.09，1.14]）报告了更高的 COVID-19 感知风险。在撒哈拉以南非洲（β=1.19，95%置信区间 [1.05，1.34]）和海外（β=1.97，95%置信区间 [1.16，2.41]），知识和态度评分随着 COVID-19 的感知风险增加而增加。
需要推广侧重于增加人们对 COVID-19 知识的了解并鼓励对疫苗和教育等缓解措施采取积极态度的预防措施。这些干预措施应针对年轻人群、受教育程度较低的人群和非卫生保健工作者。
