Perceptions of the seriousness of major public health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic in seven middle-income countries.
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Carson RT, Hanemann M, Köhlin G, Adamowicz W, Sterner T, Amuakwa-Mensah F, Alpizar F, Khossravi EA, Jeuland M, Bonilla JA, Tan-Soo J, Nam PK, Ndiritu SW, Wadehra S, Chegere MJ, Visser M, Chukwuone NA, Whittington D
Commun Med (Lond) 3 (1) 193
[2023-12-21; online 2023-12-21]
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. 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. 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. 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.
Category: Social Science & Humanities
PubMed 38129511
DOI 10.1038/s43856-023-00377-8
Crossref 10.1038/s43856-023-00377-8
pmc: PMC10739711
pii: 10.1038/s43856-023-00377-8