Pregnant women's knowledge and practice of preventive measures against COVID-19 in a low-resource African setting (original) (raw)

the virus that causes it (SARS-Cov-2) has spread to over 110 countries, including Nigeria. 1-3 Although the impact of COVID-19 on pregnant women is not yet clear, there are concerns over its potential effect on maternal and perinatal outcomes due to unique immunological suppression during pregnancy. 4,5 The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended a series of preventive measures to halt the spread of the disease and its associated mortality. 3 In Nigeria, these preventive measures have been adopted, along with media campaigns to disseminate information on the measures to the general public. However, the level of knowledge and practice of these preventive measures against the spread of the virus among pregnant women, who constitute a vulnerable group, is yet to be evaluated. Between February 1 and March 31, 2020, we conducted a cross-sectional study to determine the knowledge and practice of preventive measures to protect against the virus causing COVID-19 among pregnant women attending prenatal care at Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, Nigeria. The study received ethical approval from the Research and Ethics Committee of the Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, and participants provided written informed consent. A pretested and validated self-administered questionnaire derived from the review of literature on WHO recommendations on preventive measures against COVID-19 was used to collect the data. 6 The variables assessed were age, parity, marital status, area of residence, occupation , participant's level of education, husband's level of education, and knowledge and practice of preventive measures. The measures assessed by the study questions were: (1) frequent hand washing with soap and water or using alcohol-based hand sanitizers; (2) maintaining at least 1 m distance from others; (3) avoiding touching eyes, nose, and mouth with hands; (4) covering mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing; (5) wearing a face mask in public; and (6) staying indoors. The questionnaire had a 12-item scale (six items for knowledge and six items for practice). The scoring system was 2 (for a correct answer) or 0 (for an incorrect answer). The minimum score was 0 whereas the maximum score was 12 for both the knowledge and practice components. Participants who scored 60% or more (score of 8-12) were classified as having adequate knowledge, whereas those who scored less than 60% (score up to 6) were classified as having inadequate knowledge. Women who scored 100% (score of 12) were classified as having good practice whereas those who scored less than 100% (score below 12) were classified as having poor practice.