Attitudes, Knowledge and Perceptions of people in Rural Areas about the Transmission and Prevention of COVID-19: A Case Study on residents in Kaoma Western Province

Abstract

The modern world of medicine has over the past couple of decades witnessed and experienced significant changes in combating various diseases that have since threatened the health and wellbeing of the world’s population. Despite these triumphs, a new threat to the health of the global community emerged in late 2019 in the city of Wuhan China. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) which is a respiratory infection caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 has made a name for itself as a universal health threat due to its rapid geographical spread since its discovery (WHO 2019). As of March 2020, the World Health Organization declared it to be a pandemic and has since worked with various governing health bodies worldwide to create several vaccines to combat the spread of the virus. A year later, COVID-19 has caused nearly 113 million confirmed cases and over 2.5 million deaths (Li, Y, et al, 2021). Objectives of the study were; to investigate and assess the attitudes, knowledge and perceptions residents in Kaoma area of Western Province have about the transmission and prevention of Covid-19, to assess the level of understanding residents have of what COVID-19 is and the manner in which it is transmitted and prevented, to evaluate the approaches the council and health personnel have taken towards educating the residents about the dangers of COVID-19, its transmission and prevention measures and to investigate the various measures that residents in Kaoma are putting to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 in their communities. A qualitative study design was used to collect all necessary data through the use of in-depth interviews and a total of 20 respondents were interviewed on their attitudes, knowledge and perceptions about the transmission and prevention of Covid-19.