From our survey among our 93 partners and the sampling of 300 participants during a COVID-19 outreach in 2 Ibadan markets, we have found the following:
- Proper hygiene is not maintained in homes with high poverty, because they cannot afford the extra expenses for soap and water. In addition, most people at the grassroots level say they cannot stay home as ordered by the government. This is because they are petty traders or self-employed artisans and farmers, who must go out to work daily and depend on the earned income for food and other needs.
- In these initial stages of the spread of the coronavirus in Nigeria, most people believe that Africans are immune to the virus, or that poor people cannot be infected, and that the virus cannot survive the hot weather in Nigeria. All these myths have led people not to take suitable precautions.
- Nigeria being very religious, community influencers have helped publicize the erroneous belief from pastors and imams that “COVID-19 cannot get to believers”, and they should go about their usual activities because they are protected by God. Others think the virus is a lab experiment and China will soon release the cure.
- A lot of the sensitization of the population in Nigeria has been through social media, TV, radio and newspapers, but the audience of these news sources are mostly educated and high-income people. The average market woman or farmer cannot afford to buy these devices or may not have time to listen to them. Most of their information comes directly from influencers within the community.
- The hike in the prices of food, soaps and sanitizers when demand surged made it difficult for people to stock up, even rural health workers could not afford gloves and face masks to enable them safely take the message into the communities.
In order to change some of these erroneous perceptions, join us to empower our partners and participants to remain community leaders and builders in these challenging times.
Bank: GTBank
Bank Name: Strategy and Innov for Dev Initiative
Account Number: 0366172770