Saleh F, Olatunji DI, Ofeimun E, Okpokoro E, Crawford E, Dalhat M, Igumbor E, Eziechina S, Inweregbu S, Ochu CL, Chikwe I. Epidemiology and psychosocial assessment of COVID-19 among workers of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control infected with COVID-19.
J Public Health Afr 2023;
14:2185. [PMID:
36936047 PMCID:
PMC10015410 DOI:
10.4081/jphia.2023.2185]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2022] [Accepted: 04/25/2022] [Indexed: 02/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Background
COVID-19 is a global health crisis. By 2021, Nigeria had 230,000 cases. As the national public health institute, NCDC leads the COVID-19 response. Due to constant contact with infected patients, agency employees are a t high-risk. Here, we describe the transmission and psychosocial effects of COVID- 19 among infected NCDC workers as a learning curve for minimizing occupational transmission among frontline public health workers in future outbreaks.
Methods
We approved and enrolled all NCDC COVID-19- infected personnel from November to December 2020. We collected data using SurveyMonkey. STATA 14 analyzed the data.
Results
172 of 300 afflicted NCDC staff participated in this study. One-third were between 30 and 39; most were male (104, 60.5%). Most participants worked in the lab (30%) or surveillance (24%). Only 19% (33/172) of participants confirmed pandemic deployment. Most reported interaction with a confirmed case (112/65.1%). Most people (78, 45.3%) felt unhappy when diagnosed. Anger, worry, and low motivation also ranked high (19). The majority reported adequate financial, moral, or psychosocial assistance (26, 70.6%).
Conclusions
NCDC staff had a high SARS-CoV-2 infection rate and emotional damage. We urge stricter infection control methods when sending staff for outbreaks response to prevent additional transmission, as well as ongoing psychosocial and economic assistance for afflicted workers.
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