Managing the COVID-19 pandemic in poor urban neighborhoods: The case of Accra and Johannesburg
Managing the COVID-19 pandemic in poor urban neighborhoods: The case of Accra and Johannesburg
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DOI：
10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105175
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发表时间：
2021-01-01
影响因子：
6.9
通讯作者：
Guenther, Isabel
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Durizzo, Kathrin;Asiedu, Edward;Guenther, Isabel
在没有疫苗的情况下，保持社交距离和保护性卫生是遏制COVID-19传播的最有效措施。为了了解城市贫困人口如何减轻感染风险，我们在疫情早期公共生活被封锁期间，对阿克拉和大约翰内斯堡这两个COVID-19感染率最高的非洲城市的1400多户贫困家庭进行了调查。我们发现，许多城市贫困人口已经养成了适当的卫生行为，并遵守了社交距离规则。然而，尽管全市范围内实行封锁，仍有大约25-40%的人报告参加大型聚会，10-20%的人报告在家接待客人，30-35%的人报告每周离开家一次以上。缺乏与政府法规的合作似乎更多地与缺乏基础设施或贫困有关，而不是不愿意参与行为改变。有趣的是，即使南非采取了更严格的封锁措施，人们至少同样有可能偏离社交距离规则。我们的研究结果表明，更多的南非受访者认为政府的行动过于极端，低估了本国的COVID-19病例。这两个国家约有一半的样本报告（主要通过电视）了解当前的COVID-19病例数。大多数参与者都知道咳嗽是一种症状，但只有一半的人提到发烧和呼吸困难，很少有人提到疲劳。加纳人似乎更了解情况。虽然缺乏信息是一个问题，但错误信息似乎是有限的。我们的结论是，代价高昂的公共生活关闭只有在民众信息灵通、认为政府的行动是适当的、能够获得遵守世卫组织安全规定所需的基础设施的情况下才有效，甚至可能被防止。(c) 2020作者。Elsevier Ltd.出版。这是一篇基于CC BY-NC-ND许可（http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/）的开放获取文章。
Without a vaccine, practicing social distancing and protective hygiene are the most effective measures to curb the spread of COVID-19. In order to understand how the urban poor mitigate their risk of infection, we conducted a survey with more than 1,400 poor households in two of the African cities with the most COVID-19 infections, Accra and Greater Johannesburg, early in the pandemic, during lockdowns of public life. We find that many of the urban poor already engage in the appropriate hygienic behavior and follow social distancing rules. However, despite citywide lockdowns, about 25-40% of people still report attend-ing large gatherings, 10-20% report receiving guests at home, and 30-35% report leaving the house more than once per week. Lack of cooperation with governmental regulations seems to be more related to a lack of infrastructure or poverty rather than unwillingness to engage in behavioral change. Interestingly, even with the stricter lockdown in South Africa, people are at least equally likely to deviate from social distancing rules. Our results indicate that more South African respondents perceive their government's actions as too extreme and underestimate COVID-19 cases in their country. About half of the sample in both countries report knowing (mainly through TV) about current COVID-19 case numbers. Most participants know that coughing is a symptom, but only half mention fever and difficulty breathing, and very few people mention tiredness. Ghanaians seem to be somewhat better informed. While lack of information is an issue, misinformation appears to be limited. We conclude that a costly shutdown of public life is only effective-and might even be prevented-with a well-informed population, who perceives their government's actions as appropriate and who has access to the infrastructure required to follow WHO safety regulations. (c) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).