Provision and Utilization of COVID-19-related Services in Rivers State during the Pandemic

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 outbreak which started in China became a pandemic and Rivers State recorded its first case in March 2020. This research assessed the provision and utilization of COVID-19-related services in Rivers State during the pandemic.

Method: This study was done in two phases. The first with interviewer-administered questionnaires to assess the community participants’ utilization and opinion about the adequacy of COVID-19-related services provided and the second was the collection of data on the provision and adequacy of those services from the healthcare workers who worked at the COVID-19 treatment centers. Analysis was done using IBM Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS) version 25. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05.

Result: The COVID-19-related services were provided by many stakeholders such as the Federal Government in collaboration with the state government and agencies like the Red Cross. Over 80 percent of community participants were aware of the services provided and 32.8% utilized them; though various reasons were given as challenges for non-utilization such as the fear of leaving the house (63%) and contracting the infection from the health centers (68.7%), lack of facemasks (42.7%), because family members forbade it (41%). The health workers' challenges were increased workload (85.7%), not getting the PPE in their right sizes (55.4%), discomfort with the use of PPE (62.5%), little/no incentives (75%), fear of being infected (78.6%) and fear of infecting loved ones (82,1%).  At least 6 out of 10 healthcare workers and 7 out of 10 community participants reported that most of the government-provided services, were adequate.

Conclusion: 3 out of 10 persons utilized the COVID-19-related services provided in Rivers State and most of them were deemed adequate by both community members and COVID-19 center health workers.