Awareness and Compliance with Rivers State COVID-19 Campaigns in Ikwerre Local Government Area

Abstract

The study investigated the awareness and compliance to Rivers State COVID-19 campaigns in Ikwerre Local Government Area.COVID-19. The study was anchored on diffusion innovation theory. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population of the study consisted of 188,930 residents in Ikwerre Local Government Area. A sample size of 400 was drawn from the population using Taro Yamane Formula and a multi-stage cluster sampling technique was used for data collection. The instrument was validated and a test-retest method was used to determine the reliability of the instrument, a reliability coefficient of 0.77 was established using Pearson Product Moment Correlation. Percentage and weighted mean scores were used to answer the research questions. The results showed that the people of Ikwerre LGA were conscious and both English, Pidgin and Ikwerre languages were accepted to have been used to convey COVID-19 messages to them. However, the compliance level was said to be very low. Thus, the study concluded that despite the acknowledgement of the presence of campaigns compliance to COVID-19 protocol was not successful in Ikwerre are LGA. The study recommended that the government and concerned authorities should endeavour to strengthen communication channels including media systems. This will aid in providing adequate and timely healthcare information and bridge the gap in poor rural compliance with health activities. Also, the elites and opinion leaders among the rural indigents should call for synergy between their area, the media and government at all levels to champion health sensitization programmes for the rural people of Ikwerre LGA against health challenges such as COVID-19 and others.