IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i24p12902-d697000.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • Prince Yeboah

    (Division of Bioorganic Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbruecken, Germany)

  • Dennis Bomansang Daliri

    (Department of Psychiatry, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi, Ghana)

  • Ahmad Yaman Abdin

    (Division of Bioorganic Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbruecken, Germany)

  • Emmanuel Appiah-Brempong

    (Department of Health Promotion & Education, School of Public Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology, Kumasi, Ghana)

  • Werner Pitsch

    (Department for Economics and Sociology of Sports, Faculty of Economics and Empirical Human Sciences, Institute of Sport Sciences, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbruecken, Germany)

  • Anto Berko Panyin

    (Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology, Kumasi, Ghana)

  • Emmanuel Bentil Asare Adusei

    (Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology, Kumasi, Ghana)

  • Afraa Razouk

    (Division of Bioorganic Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbruecken, Germany)

  • Muhammad Jawad Nasim

    (Division of Bioorganic Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbruecken, Germany)

  • Claus Jacob

    (Division of Bioorganic Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbruecken, Germany)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Prince Yeboah & Dennis Bomansang Daliri & Ahmad Yaman Abdin & Emmanuel Appiah-Brempong & Werner Pitsch & Anto Berko Panyin & Emmanuel Bentil Asare Adusei & Afraa Razouk & Muhammad Jawad Nasim & Claus , 2021. "Knowledge into the Practice against COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Study from Ghana," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-13, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:24:p:12902-:d:697000
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/24/12902/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/24/12902/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alison K. Cohen & Emily J. Ozer & David H. Rehkopf & Barbara Abrams, 2021. "High School Composition and Health Outcomes in Adulthood: A Cohort Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-11, April.
    2. Pritish Mondal & Ankita Sinharoy & Binu-John Sankoorikal & Roopa Siddaiah & Lauren Mazur & Gavin Graff, 2021. "The Influence of Sociodemographic Heterogeneity on the Perceptions of COVID-19: A Countrywide Survey Study in the USA," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-11, August.
    3. Ryan J. Gamba & Lana Mariko Wood & Adianez Ampil & Alina Engelman & Juleen Lam & Michael T. Schmeltz & Maria M. Pritchard & Joshua Kier Adrian Santillan & Esteban S. Rivera & Nancy Ortiz & Darice Ingr, 2021. "Investigating the Feasibility of a Restaurant Delivery Service to Improve Food Security among College Students Experiencing Marginal Food Security, a Head-to-Head Trial with Grocery Store Gift Cards," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-14, September.
    4. Brittany H. Kim & Lisa Ranzenhofer & Jill Stadterman & Yvette G. Karvay & Natasha L. Burke, 2021. "Food Insecurity and Eating Pathology in Adolescents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-13, August.
    5. Daniel Tzu-Hsuan Chen & Yi-Jen Wang, 2021. "Inequality-Related Health and Social Factors and Their Impact on Well-Being during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Findings from a National Survey in the UK," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-9, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jasper Dhoore & Bram Spruyt & Jessy Siongers, 2024. "Locked Down: The Gendered Impact of Social Support on Children’s Well-Being Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 17(1), pages 367-394, February.
    2. Paul M. Ong & Chhandara Pech & Nataly Rios Gutierrez & Vickie M. Mays, 2021. "COVID-19 Medical Vulnerability Indicators: A Predictive, Local Data Model for Equity in Public Health Decision Making," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-23, April.
    3. Bonnie Janzen & Laurie-Ann Hellsten, 2021. "Household Income and Psychological Distress: Exploring Women’s Paid and Unpaid Work as Mediators," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-15, June.
    4. Mihai Răzvan Niță & Miruna Arsene & Giorgiana Barbu & Alina Gabriela Cus & Mihail Ene & Ramona Mihaela Serban & Constantin Marian Stama & Larissa Nicoleta Stoia, 2021. "Using Social Media Data to Evaluate Urban Parks Use during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(20), pages 1-15, October.
    5. Enza Simeone, 2023. "Inequality in health status during the COVID-19 in the UK: does the impact of the second lockdown policy matter?," Working Papers 661, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:24:p:12902-:d:697000. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.