Knowledge into the Practice against COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Study from Ghana

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected populations globally, including Ghana. Knowledge of the COVID-19 disease, and the application of preventive public health interventions are pivotal to its control. Besides a lockdown, measures taken against the spread of the virus include the wearing of face masks, social distancing, regular hand washing with soap and, more recently, vaccination against the virus. In order to establish a possible link between the knowledge of the disease and compliance with preventive measures, including vaccination, a cross-sectional study employing an interview-structured questionnaire was conducted in six regions of Ghana (n = 1560). An adequate level of knowledge of COVID-19 (69.9%) was reported. The linear multiple regression analysis further explicated the differences in the knowledge of COVID-19 among the respondents by their knowledge of cholera and influenza (adjusted R-Square = 0.643). Despite this profound knowledge of the illness, two thirds of the respondents were unwilling to follow basic preventive measures and only 35.3% were willing to be vaccinated. Amazingly, neither knowledge of COVID-19 nor the socio-demographic characteristics had any meaningful influence on the practice of preventive measures. Personal attitude leading to efficient public compliance with preventive measures, therefore, is a critical issue demanding special attention and effective interventions by the government and locals with authority to curb the spread of the pandemic which surpasses the traditional channels of public health communication. This includes a roll-out of persuasion, possibly including public figures and influencers, and in any case, a balanced and open discussion addressing the acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine in order to avoid new variants and comparable problems currently facing many countries of Western Europe. Indeed, a profound hesitancy against vaccination may turn African countries such as Ghana for many years into hotspots of new viral variants.

SARS-CoV-2 variants and the global pandemic challenged by vaccine uptake during the emergence of the Delta variant: A national survey seeking vaccine hesitancy causes

“…In line with their healthy lifestyle behavior, 70% of them had high to very high compliance with COVID-19 infection prevention strategies, while 24.7% reported medium commitment. This is similar to the previous research conducted early in the pandemic, that reported high compliance levels with preventive measures and high willingness to self-isolate, while other studies in other settings showed poor compliance with those prevention measures and low levels of vaccinations acceptance at the same time [36] , [37] , [38] , [39] .…”

A fascination for vaccination: Demographic differences in effectiveness perception and support for COVID-19 vaccine in Nigeria

“…In this study, the statistic revealed by the participants (50.5%) is significantly lower than the United Kingdom (83.1%) (Gohel, Patel, Shah, Patel, Pandit & Raut, 2021), United States (92%) (Geldsetzer, 2020); Saudi Arabia (81.6%) (Al-Hanawi, Angawi, Alshareef, Qattan, Helmy et al, 2020); Developed countries (78.3) (Adefisoye, Adefisoye, George & Bisi-Johnson, 2021); Ghana (69.9) (Yeboah, Daliri, Abdin, Appiah-Brempong, Pitsch et al, 2021), similar to Bangladesh (Islam, Siddique, Akter, Tasnim, Sujan, Ward & Skder, 2021); Developing countries (59.5%) (Adefisoye, Adefisoye, George & Bisi-Johnson, 2021); West Africa (67.8%) (Udoakang, Zune, Tapela, Owoicho, Fagbohun et al, 2022); Malaysia (62%) (Mohamad et al, 2021); Ethiopia (46.9) (Adane, Ademas & Kloos, 2022). The findings compare pointedly with Wallis (2020) who argues the inclination to shun vaccination is endemic when a novel pandemic strikes, particularly due to the dearth of information about the risk inherent in vaccines.…”

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Latin America and Africa: a scoping review

“…In Ethiopia, the highest acceptance was 97.9% 25 and the lowest, 45.5% 31 . In Ghana, acceptance ranged from 64.72% 32 to 35% 33 . In Libya, acceptance ranged from 79.6% to 41.2%, depending on the vaccine efficacy 34 .…”