Responding to COVID-19 in African Countries
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact societies, not only in terms of health, but also social and economic conditions and day-to-day life.
Ipsos conducted public opinion polls on behalf of the Partnership for Evidence-Based Response to COVID-19 (PERC), a consortium of global public health organisations and private sector firms. PERC was created in March 2020 with the objective of providing African Union Member States with real-time information and guidance to reduce the impact of COVID-19 on the continent.
The polling was conducted in 18 African Union Member States to understand the public’s knowledge, risk perception, attitudes, access to information, reactions, behaviours and practices related to COVID-19.
Key findings in Nigeria:
- Support and adherence for personal Public Health and Social Measures (PHSMs): While support for PHSMs is above 50% among survey respondents, self reported adherence is lower, despite a large portion of those surveyed reporting anxiety about resuming normal activities.
- Risk perceptions & information: Survey findings reflect low perceptions of risk and severity among the Nigerian public. In addition, there is low trust in the government and anti foreign sentiment, leading to substantial misinformation about the disease.
- Essential health services: A high proportion of Nigerian respondents who have needed health care have had difficulty accessing health care visits (39%) and medicines (36%) during the COVID 19 crisis, and those with longstanding illnesses are particularly affected. The most frequently reported health service that was missed was for malaria.
- Economic burden & food security: The economic and food security burden is extremely high in Nigeria, despite a PHSM loosening strategy designed to restart the economy. More than 80% of Nigerians report having lost income and experiencing difficulty accessing food.
This Executive Summary is supplemented by the Data Deck with the full set of data.