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 South Africa:
- Support and adherence for personal Public Health and Social Measures (PHSMs): Both support for, and adherence to, PHSMs in South Africa are high relative to other African Union (AU) Member States surveyed.
- Risk perceptions & information: Around half of respondents in South Africa believe they are at risk for contracting COVID 19, a significantly higher share than in other AU Member States surveyed, reflecting the country’s large epidemic. However, many respondents in South Africa hold misconceptions or believe rumors or myths.
- Essential health services: A high proportion of respondents who needed medical care have had difficulty accessing health care visits (38%) or medicines (31%) during the COVID 19 crisis, and those with longstanding illnesses are particularly affected.
- Economic burden & food security: A majority of respondents (62%) report having lost income compared to last year, and many are facing difficulty accessing food. Only 22% report receiving additional aid from the government in the previous month.
This Executive Summary is supplemented by the Data Deck with the full set of data.
