Covid-19
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Perceptions of the seriousness of major public health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic in seven middle-income countries

Peer Reviewed
20 December 2023

Communications Medicine

Richard T. Carson, Jie-Sheng Tan-Soo, Nnaemeka Andegbe Chukwuone, Martine Visser, Martin Julius Chegere, Shivani Wadehra, Simon Wagura Ndiritu, Pham Khanh Nam, Jorge A. Bonilla, Michael Hanemann, Marc Jeuland, Emily A. Khossravi, Francisco Alpizar, Franklin Amuakwa-Mensah, Thomas Sterner, Wiktor Adamowicz, Gunnar Köhlin, Dale Whittington

Abstract

Introduction
Public perception of the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to six other major public health problems (alcoholism and drug use, HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, lung cancer and respiratory diseases caused by air pollution and smoking, and water-borne diseases like diarrhea) is unclear. We designed a survey to examine this issue using YouGov’s internet panels in seven middle-income countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America in early 2022.

Methods
Respondents rank-ordered the seriousness of the seven health problems using a repeated best-worst question format. Rank-ordered logit models allow comparisons within and across countries and assessment of covariates.

Results
In six of the seven countries, respondents perceived other respiratory illnesses to be a more serious problem than COVID-19. Only in Vietnam was COVID-19 ranked above other respiratory illnesses. Alcoholism and drug use was ranked the second most serious problem in the African countries. HIV/AIDS ranked relatively high in all countries. Covariates, particularly a COVID-19 knowledge scale, explained differences within countries; statistics about the pandemic were highly correlated with differences in COVID-19’s perceived seriousness.

Conclusions
People in the seven middle-income countries perceived COVID-19 to be serious (on par with HIV/AIDS) but not as serious as other respiratory illnesses. In the African countries, respondents perceived alcoholism and drug use as more serious than COVID-19. Our survey-based approach can be used to quickly understand how the threat of a newly emergent disease, like COVID-19, fits into the larger context of public perceptions of the seriousness of health problems.

Topics

Files and links

Sustainable Development Goals
Publication reference
Carson, R. T., Hanemann, M., Köhlin, G., Adamowicz, W., Sterner, T., Amuakwa-Mensah, F., Alpizar, F., Khossravi, E. A., Jeuland, M., Bonilla, J. A., Tan-Soo, J.-S., Nam, P. K., Ndiritu, S. W., Wadehra, S., Chegere, M. J., Visser, M., Chukwuone, N. A., & Whittington, D. (2023). Perceptions of the seriousness of major public health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic in seven middle-income countries. Communications Medicine, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43856-023-00377-8
Publication | 4 January 2024