Awareness and Practice of COVID -19 Preventive Measures among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Care Clinic in a Tertiary Health Centre in North-Western Nigeria

Abstract

Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in death of millions of people across the world. The impact of the disease on human health and the economic hardship on the affected countries have been severe. The public must routinely practice precautionary measures to control the spread of the disease, as no antiviral treatments are currently available. However, the level of awareness and practice of these preventive measures against Covid-19 infection among pregnant women, which constitute vulnerable groups have not been evaluated in our environment. The aim of the study was to determine the awareness and knowledge of pregnant women on Covid-19, its preventive measures and the practice of those preventive measures. It was a cross-sectional study among pregnant women attending antenatal care clinic at Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto. An interviewer administered questionnaire was used to obtain relevant information on sociodemographic characteristics and also their knowledge and practice of Covid-19 preventive measures. All the respondents were aware of Covid-19 infection and the source of information was from Television. All the respondents were aware of the various preventive measures of Covid-19 and the knowledge was good among 98.7% of the respondents. However, only 19.1% had good practice of the preventive measures. Educational status of the respondents was found to have significant association with knowledge of preventive measures (χ2= 9.5, p = 0.014).