Attitudes and practices regarding COVID-19 preventive measures in diverse settings of Mozambique: a qualitative study

Background: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) first broke out in Wuhan, China, on 29 December 2019; since then, it has taken hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide. Although adopting different containment measures, it spread rapidly over the world. In Mozambique, the government declared a state of emergency in March 2020, associated with a number of preventive measures to reduce the spread and delay the peak of virus’ infections. This paper seeks to analyze the attitudes and practices related to COVID-19 preventive measures during first period of state of emergency in Mozambique in both in rural and urban settings. Methods: : A community-based, cross-sectional and qualitative study was conducted in six urban and five rural settings in Mozambique. In total, 295 semi-structured interviews were conducted with community members, of which 23 were face-to-face and 272 through telephone interviews. Interviews were digitally audio recorded, verbatim transcribed, and entered into an Excel matrix followed by a structured data content analysis. The Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ) guidelines for reporting qualitative studies were performed. Results: : In general, participants reported that it was necessary to change their habits, reducing activities and their mobility, such as: going out to work, for business, and visiting family, to reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19. In addition, some participants reported adopting several COVID-19 preventive measures in public spaces and at home, such as: wearing a mask, washing their hands, and social and physical distancing. Conclusions: : Although the majority of participants reported adopting most of COVID-19 preventive measures at home and in public spaces, much work is still needed to improve the knowledge of COVID-19 preventive measures and practices. The results of our study suggest a greater awareness of residents and users of public places about established standards and preventive procedures concerning COVID-19.