Social/Physical distancing for COVID-19: Readiness, risk perception and acceptance in Ethiopia (Getnet Yimer)-April 18

Apr 18, 2020 11:00 AM Africa/Addis_Ababa
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Summary of key findings :

• The study included 834 telephone surveys focused on five urban and peri-urban areas of Ethiopia including Addis Ababa, Adama, Gondar, Hawassa, and Mekelle.
• ONLY 8% said that they thought the Coronavirus was a killer, deadly disease or serious;
• Close to a quarter of the respondents (22.6%) selected there is no need for information;
• While more than half (57%) believed COVID-19 can be cured with garlic, significantly more, 80% also believed that it can be prevented by drinking lemon and vitamin C;
• On a positive note, a key finding, 97% of respondents knew that washing hands helps prevent getting COVID-19; 77.3% of respondents

Biography

Getnet Yimer (MD, PhD),  a physician scientist and consultant medical specialist,  is a  Regional Director for Global One Health Initiative of the Ohio State University in Eastern Africa,. Prior to this, He has served as a Director for Research and Technology Transfer at the College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University for 5 years. For over 7 years, he has worked as consultant for WHO-TDR in charge of leading and coordinating Randomised Control Trials in 6 African countries namely, Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda, Nigeria, South Africa, and Ethiopia. Getnet is also a member of the National Health Research Ethics Review Committee at the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in Ethiopia. He has served as a PI for a number of big projects funded by; CDC-PEPFAR (1U2GGH001477-01),  Swiss National Foundation (R01 MH922731), USAID, EDCTP, Novartis and GSK and as a co-PI for NIH D43- TW010143-01 (MEPI), HRSA–T84HA21124-05-01 (iRIM), World Bank (CDT-Africa), EDCTP, and Astra Zeneca funded projects. Getnet has have published over 56 international peer reviewed publications and a book chapter.