This study observed hand hygiene and safety behaviours of shoppers and shop keepers with respect to COVID-19 safety protocols in shopping centres in Wa, a business centre in North-western Ghana. Based on the theory of planned behaviour, the behaviours of 751 customers of 50 shops with handwashing facilities were observed from April to June 2020. It was observed that adherence to COVID-19 safety protocols at shopping centres was very poor. Although the shops observed provided handwashing facilities, 91.3% of the customers did not practise handwashing before entering the shops. Also, 84.2% of them did not wear mouth-and-nose masks during shopping. Similarly, for 78% of the shops observed, no shop attendant wore a mask. Despite the provision of handwashing facilities and widespread advocacy to minimise the infection of COVID-19, the citizenry, especially the youth, demonstrate a poor attitude towards safety measures. Non-adherence to COVID-19 protocols was higher in shops where there was no pressure to conform to the protocols. The findings, amidst the increasing number of infections, suggest that attitude and perceived behavioural control are critical to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and, as such, could be good entry points for behavioural interventions.
For several years, agriculture has been the main sector, employing the majority of the populace in most developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) (Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa [AGRA], 2018). With the sector's role in poverty alleviation, it has contributed significantly to the socioeconomic and livelihood development of both male and female crop farmers in most rural communities in Ghana (Wrigley-Asante et al., 2017), albeit based on smallholding farms (Dzanku et al., 2021). Smallholder farmers in SSA largely depend on rainfall for food crop production for the sustenance of livelihood (Wrigley-Asante et al., 2017). Notwithstanding, global changes in climatic
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