By Kemo Cham
Despite being one of the most exposed to Covid-19, a very small number of market women in Sierra Leone are using facemask, one of the most effective preventive measures recommended for the disease, a survey has revealed.
The survey conducted by a group of youth-led organizations found that 92% of women surveyed in some of the biggest markets in the country do not use the protective equipment.
Six markets, all of them in Freetown, were covered in the survey conducted under the Gap-Tracker initiative, which was designed to gauge the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on market women in the city and identify lapses for the attention of those in charge of the national response efforts.
The Gap Tracker team comprises four organizations: Bush Tinker, Feminists United Sierra Leone and Allies, Princess Project and Inkeemedia.
Some 390 respondents were sampled in Lumely market, Aberdeen market, Congo Town market, Kroo Town Road market, Congo Market and Dough Court market. The survey also sought to know the level of knowledge among the women of the viral pandemic, its mode of transmission and the meaning of social distancing to them, among others.
Some 11% of the women do not have knowledge about the virus, while 19 and 20%, respectively, do not know how it is transmitted or what social distancing means, according to the findings.
According to the report of the survey conducted between 15 and 16 April, 34% of the women do not have access to water for hand washing, while 64% lack hand Sanitizer.
Besides the use of facemask, regular hand washing or the use of disinfectants like hand sanitizer is also a highly recommended practice for prevention against covid-19.
The markets pose a major conundrum for the authorities in the implementation of social distancing. These markets covered in the survey are some of the most populated in the country.
A spokesperson for the Gap Track initiative told Politico that they hoped relevant bodies would integrate the findings of the survey into the COVID-19 response strategies.
“The primary goals of the survey are to understand the perception level of market women on COVID-19 as well it's social protection impacts on them,” said Theriyeh Koroma, Founder and Executive Director of Feminists United Sierra Leone and Allies.
“We recognised that market women are very crucial towards the prevention and community transmission of the COVID-19. They find themselves in an every-day life situation in which they interact with different people from different communities. So we wanted to understand how market women, as important category of people, are positioned in the fight through the data analytical approach,” Koroma added in a whatsapp interview.
The report comes as Sierra Leone’s Covid-19 battle worsens, amidst rising number of cases, mostly attributed to community transmission.
On Friday the country saw its largest number of positive cases confirmed in a single day – 18. With four new cases confirmed on Saturday, the country’s tally of cumulative confirmed cases was 86, with three deaths and 10 recoveries. There were 889 people in quarantine.
The government has made wearing facemasks compulsory in all public spaces. But there has been concern over a potential shortage of the masks, especially for frontline workers. Therefore, the authorities have been urging the public to use locally made cloth masks.
Several institutions and individuals have been donating cloth masks to people who can’t afford.
The Freetown City Council, with support from the European Union, is working on rolling out one of the largest facemask donation exercises, targeting 5000 people.
Koroma said the Gap Tracker survey sample size was inspired by that project. She said they believed that the findings of the survey would also be helpful to authorities for “proactive moves” towards the fight against the pandemic in the country.
“This is important because it will highlight areas needing improvements and scale up sensitisation efforts. We strongly refer authorities to refer to our findings as our civic support towards ending the COVID-19,” she stated.
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