Rose Atieno Opiyo’s scientific contributions

Background: To reduce Covid-19 infection, the government of Kenya through the Ministry of Health has had a number of strategies proposed, including knowledge training for prevention and control, isolation, disinfection, categorized protections at various levels in infection regions, and protection of both suspected and confirmed cases. Objectives: The goal of this study was to determine the general community's understanding, attitude, and practice of COVID-19 in relation to risk perception. Methods: Across-sectional study was conducted in the Ikolomani Subcounty of Kakamega County, Kenya in the year 2020. To collect data, the Questionnaire contained two segments. The first segment included a sociodemographic data collection set that included age, gender, marital status, and educational level, followed by a standard questionaire on risk perception of an infectious disease outbreak, and finally a perception interview. The Questionnaire was administered to the target population via interview while adhering to the Covid 19 Precautions. Frequency and Percentage were used to summarize continuous variables. The quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS Version 25.0, and the qualitative data was analyzed using thematic content analysis. Results: The findings revealed that 33% of respondents were between the ages of 18 and 29 and were unconcerned about Covid-19. On the other side, the results suggest that covid-19 was a major concern for 25% (60) of the respondents. Covid-19 is considered to be more harmful than other disorders by 29 percent of responders. The findings also revealed that 24 percent of respondents aged 40 to 50 are more likely to contract covid-19. The study also revealed that 26 percent of respondents will reduce their risk of contracting covid-19 by limiting their visits to friends and family outside the home, while 22 percent will try to keep a two-meter distance from others when outside.33% of respondents aged 40-49 wore face masks, 30% of respondents aged 40-49 washed their hands, and 100% of respondents aged 50-59 were maintaining physical distance and disinfecting objects and surfaces. Prayer is used by 67 percent of responders aged 60 and up. The researcher was also interested in learning about some of the obstacles that respondents were facing in their efforts to prevent covid-19. According to the findings, 24% of respondents aged 18 to 49 lacked the financial means to purchase personal protection equipment, while 24% of those aged 40 to 49 struggled with social and cultural practices and acceptance. The responders had varied knowledge, a positive attitude, and sensible behaviours when it came to COVID-19. Conclusion: During the COVID-19 pandemic, messages aimed at encouraging the adoption of preventive behaviors should include enhancing the perception of severity, risk perception, self-efficacy to deal with the pandemic, and the success of the behavioral measures chosen for risk reduction. Health education programs customized to specific sociodemographic groups are critical for boosting the adoption of outbreak prevention measures by raising public awareness, perceptions, and attitudes.

By mid-May 2021, there were over 200 thousand cases of (SARS-CoV-2) or COVID-19 across Kenya with new confirmed cases continuing to rise following the reopening of the country. The novel coronavirus has not only brought along disruptions to daily socioeconomic activities, but sickness and deaths due to its high contagion. With no widely acceptable pharmaceutical cure, the best form of prevention may be precautionary measures which will guide against infections and curb the spread of the disease.Prior studies have focused mainly on clinical risk factors associated with serious illness and mortality of COVID-19. Less analysis has been conducted on the sociodemographic, and environmental variables associated with initial infection of COVID-19.The main objective of the study was to determine levels of communities knowledge on Covid 19. Cross sectional study design was used. Systematicss sampling technique was used to choose study participants from the communuty. The study participants were 106.. A pretest was carried out in Lurambi Subcounty. Data was collected using structured questionnaires. Quantitative data was analyzed using statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software version 22.0.With one-unit increase in socio demographic, the knowledge about covid scoredecreases by 0.007.Knowledge level about covid 19 was influenced by age, education level and income level. Members of the community had confidence in health care givers and church leaders.