‘Despite knowledge of COVID-19, cough etiquette still poor among traders’

Despite traders’ adequate knowledge about the infection and the infectivity of the coronavirus in Nigeria, 51.9 per cent of traders are still unable to imbibe the cough etiquette of coughing or sneezing into their elbow or a tissue, throwing it away and washing their hands, a study has said.

Researchers at the University of Ibadan, in a new policy, on “Knowledge Adherence to Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPI), and Impact of COVID-19 lockdown among Traders in Ibadan” said traders adherence to NPI is less than optimal, a reflection of pandemic fatigue and a reduction in motivation to adopt NPI due to perceived low risk to COVID-19 infection.

The study, which involved interviewing 383 randomly selected traders at Aleshinloye market in Ibadan, with over 90 per cent having at least a primary school education indicated that despite 81.4 per cent of them being knowledgeable about coughing or sneezing into a tissue, throwing it away and washing their hands, 59 per cent still were not doing so.

In addition, compliance to the lockdown was low as 86.7 did not stay or work at home but were rather in their shops to sell during the period while 65.45 of the traders also never avoided going out to pubs and bars.

The study said “overall score for NPI adherence for the group is 16.7 out of a maximum of 42, more females than males significantly adhered to NPI and older citizens aged above 60 years had better adherence than younger persons aged more than 30 years.

“Concerning food insecurity, 63.4 per cent reported that a member of their household skipped a meal because there was not enough money or other resources to get food; 55.1 per cent ran out of food and 8.8 per cent reported that a member of their household did not eat for the whole month during the month preceding the survey.”

The researchers said there was a need for a gender approach to educational programming to improve men’s knowledge of COVID-19 and their adherence to NPI even as the government and other agencies should implement support mechanisms to cushion the impact of COVID-19 on livelihood among traders.

According to them, the use of the existing social categories of traders in the market will be helpful in developing appropriate intervention package for this population as well as the sustenance of educational interventions about COVID-19 to encourage more persons to consistently comply with NPI.

They called for the distribution of free masks and hand sanitisers in the market setting to promote their optimal utilisation.

Earlier studies indicate better adherence, however, this perceived low risk is problematic because Nigeria is experiencing a second wave of infection, which is associated with higher infection rates and severity in mortality.

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