COVID SONDAGEM MOZAMBIQUE 2020

The new coronavirus epidemic emerged in late 2019 in Wuhan city, China and quickly spread to other countries in the world. At the time of designing this project, 53 African countries were affected. The World Health Organization (WHO) decreed this public health problem as a pandemic (the COVID-19 pandemic) as of 11 March 2020 and therefore a Global Public Health Emergency. With the onset of the first case in Mozambique on 22nd March 2020, the government declared a state of emergency, coupled with restrictive preventive measures to reduce the spread of the virus over the country. Given the circumstances, a research team from Manhiça Health Research Center designed a cross-sectional, community-based mixed method research project entitled “Current status of household confinement measures: a survey in selected neighbourhoods of Manhiça and Mopeia districts, and Maputo, Matola, Xai-Xai and Quelimane Municipalities (COVID19-Sond)”. The study was conducted in various urban and rural settings in Mozambique aiming to evaluate home confinement behaviours, household members’ mobility, the mobility routes and other attitudes and practices related to COVID-19 preventive measures at the community level. The ultimate purpose of the research was for advising the government with a set of measure crucial for the prevention of COVID-19 and in harmony with the state of emergency in the country. In total, 295 semi-structured interviews were conducted with community members, of which 23 were face-to-face and 272 through telephone interviews. Interviews were digitally recorded, verbatim transcribed, and entered into an excel matrix. Structure data analysis was adopted using a matrix in an Excel spreadsheet for content analysis. Participants felt it was necessary to change their habits, reducing some activities and their mobility such as going out to work, going out for business, visiting family, among others to reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19. In addition, some participants also adopted several COVID-19 prevention measures when they are in the public space and home, such as wearing a mask, washing their hands, and social and physical distancing to prevent COVID-19. Although most participants have shown a positive attitude towards COVID-19 prevention measures at home and in public spaces, much work is still needed to improve the COVID-19 preventive measures and practices. The results of our study suggest a greater awareness of residents and users of public places about established standards and preventive procedures concerning COVID-19.