Perception Facing the Pandemic of Covid-19 (Case of the population of the City of Kabinda, Province Of Lomami / Rd.Congo)

Introduction

Towards the f in of December 2019 that China Vat reported one case of unknown cause pneumonia. The disease was later discovered to be caused by a new coronavirus in the city of Wuhan, Hubei province [1] and the World Health Organization (WHO) declared it a public health emergency of international concern [2]. COVI-19 is a pandemic is caused by the coronavirus which is an RNA virus ranging in diameter from 60 to 140 nanometers [3]. Human-to- human transmission occurs through large droplets emitted during coughing or sneezing by a symptomatic subject or an asymptomatic subject [4]. Contamination occurs by inhaling these droplets or by touching surfaces contaminated by the droplets and then touching the nose, mouth or eyes [5]. This disease is characterized by a variety of clinical symptoms ranging from asymptomatic to acute respiratory distress syndrome and dysfunction of several organs; however, the most common symptoms are fever (not all), cough, sore throat, headache, fatigue, myalgia and shortness of breath [6]. To date there is no specific treatment for the disease, treatment is mainly supportive and symptomatic [7, 8, 9]. Prevention therefore remains the crucial strategy to deal with COVID 19. At the level of the general population, since there is no vaccine, the best prevention is to avoid coming into contact with the virus [10]. The first cases of patients with coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) in the Democratic Republic of Congo were diagnosed on March 10, 2020 by the National Institute for Biomedical Research (INRB) in Kinshasa, the capital of the country [11]. Consequently, a state of health emergency was declared by the President of the Republic on March 19, 2020 with the cessation of all mass activities throughout the country followed by the instruction to observe barrier measures everywhere to prevent the spread of COVI-19 and free access to drinking water for a period of 3 months.

The province of LOMAMI in general and the city of KABINDA in particular and which is the capital, is a province not yet affected by COVID-19, but in view of the rapid spread of the pandemic and the real difficulties of control and control of people from contaminated provinces, it is necessary to know what is the perception of the population vis-à-vis COVID-19 to allow us to have a general idea and to suggest to decision-makers the useful measures to be taken before the worst does not happen.

Material and Methods

This research addresses the qualitative approach of the phenomenological type by seeking to attempt to unveil the perception of the population of the city of KABINDA on the COVI-19 pandemic. The information was collected in a systematic and prospective manner during the enthusiasm of the respondents gathered around the REGIDESO standpipes following the free distribution of water. The maintenance guide and the telephone recorder were used to carry out this study, which took place from May 14 to May 20, 2020. As part of this study, the population was made up of respondents who came from several households in order to obtain drinking water.

To obtain the sample for our study, we resorted to the selection criteria below:

• Be present on the day of data collection,
• Agree to answer the survey questionnaire for our study.

Results

In this Table 1, we see that p is to sex, the wom are predominating with 72.8%, the age group of 18 and older is represented with 81.3%. The majority have a secondary education level (53.1%), with an occupation successively dominated by 18.8% of pupils, housewives and civil servants.

The thematic analysis made it possible to identify different definitions that we have grouped into two categories below:

• Understanding of the COVID-19 pandemic: it emerged from this category that the majority of the population understand the COVID-19 pandemic as a disease of the rich, of the whites that seriously kills.
• Etiology of p COVID-19: for this category, the population says that it is the virus that is the cause.

Theme: Definition of the COVI-19 pandemic by the population.

Theme: Transmission of COVI-19.

The thematic analysis revealed that the majority of the population says that COVID-19 is transmitted by coughing.

Theme: Signs of COVI-19

We notice that the majority of the population says that COVID-19 is manifested by cough, fever and difficulty breathing.

Theme: Perception of the COVI-19 pandemic by the population. The finding shows that the majority of the population says that COVID-19 is a disease from China that has been transported here to us by businessmen who like to travel a lot.

Conclusion

To prevent the disease from arriving in the town of Kabinda, which has remained uncontaminated so far, the population must be strongly sensitized so that they become aware and step up efforts to reduce the spread of the virus by respecting barrier gestures, such as hand washing, quarantine of suspected cases, social distancing and wearing of masks, thermo flash testing of travelers from other provinces.

Recommendations

Regarding outreach channels, so that the greatest communication channels are broadcast media and social networks. It therefore appears important to strengthen awareness by community relays through the door-to- door approach. It is also necessary to privilege a targeted sensitization according to the media most followed by the population of the city of Kabinda. The population finds it difficult to accept and apply physical distancing as a barrier measure. It is therefore necessary to increase awareness of the importance of these measures and also to provide the population with adequate means to apply those which are the most accepted and applied, such as wearing a mask and washing hands. As hand washing is one of the effective preventive measures, it is important to improve the drinking water supply throughout the town of Kabinda.