Abstract
Health personnel and community workers are at the front line of the COVID-19 emergency response and need to be equipped with adequate knowledge related to epidemics for an effective response. This study aimed to identify the coverage of COVID-19 health information via different sources accessed by health workers and community workers in Vietnam. A cross-sectional study using a web-based survey was carried out from January to February 2020 in Vietnam. Respondent-driven sampling (RDS) was used for recruiting participants. We utilized the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to examine the construct validity of the questionnaire. A higher percentage of participants knew about “Clinical and pathogen characteristics of COVID-19”, compared to “Regulations and policies related to COVID-19”. The percentage of participants accessing the information on “Guidelines and policies on prevention and control of COVID-19” was the lowest, especially among medical students. “Mass media and peer-educators” channels had a higher score of accessing COVID-19 information, compared to “Organizations/ agencies/ associations” sources. Participants consumed most of their COVID-19 information via “Internet, online newspapers, social networks”. Our findings indicate an urgency to re-design training programs and communication activities for a more effective dissemination of information related to the COVID-19 epidemic or epidemics in general.
Highlights
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an emerging respiratory disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus and was first detected in Wuhan, China in December 2019 [1]
“Clinical and pathogen characteristics” was higher than that of “Regulations and policies related to COVID-19” (85.3% and 67.8%, respectively)
This study showed the differences in accessibility of COVID-19 primary information via multiple channels among medical professionals, medical students, and community workers
Summary
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an emerging respiratory disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus and was first detected in Wuhan, China in December 2019 [1]. Due to the threatening impact on health, society, and the economy, this infectious disease was declared a pandemic on. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has spread very quickly and, after four months, it has infected over 1.4 million people with more than 85,000 deaths in 212 countries and territories [3]. The health security of Vietnam, one of the countries that shares a border with China, is threatened with 255 infected cases [4]. It urgently requires Vietnam’s preparedness at the national and provincial levels, with outbreak prevention, and coordinated responses to extinguish the epidemic as rapidly as possible.
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