Epidemiology and psychosocial assessment of COVID-19 among workers of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control infected with COVID-19

Fatima Saleh; David Idowu Olatunji; Ehichioya Ofeimun; Evaezi Okpokoro; Emily Crawford; Mahmood Dalhat; Ehimario Igumbor; Sunday Eziechina; Stella Inweregbu; Chinwe Lucia Ochu; Ihekweazu Chikwe

doi:10.4081/jphia.2023.2185

Authors

Fatima Saleh Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Abuja, Nigeria. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2246-0169
David Idowu Olatunji
david.olatunji@ncdc.gov.ng
Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Abuja, Nigeria.
Ehichioya Ofeimun Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Abuja, Nigeria. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2961-1978
Evaezi Okpokoro Institute of Human Virology, Abuja, Nigeria.
Emily Crawford Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Abuja, Nigeria.
Mahmood Dalhat Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Abuja, Nigeria.
Ehimario Igumbor Centre for Infectious Disease Research, Nigerian institute of Medical Research, Lagos, Nigeria. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6313-6031
Sunday Eziechina Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Abuja, Nigeria.
Stella Inweregbu Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Abuja, Nigeria. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7944-9457
Chinwe Lucia Ochu Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Abuja, Nigeria. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0630-7332
Ihekweazu Chikwe Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Abuja, Nigeria.

Background. COVID-19 is a global health crisis. By 2021, Nigeria had 230,000 cases. As the national public health institute, NCDC leads the COVID-19 response. Due to constant contact with infected patients, agency employees are a t high-risk. Here, we describe the transmission and psychosocial effects of COVID-19 among infected NCDC workers as a learning curve for mini-mizing occupational transmission among frontline public health workers in future outbreaks.

Methods. We approved and enrolled all NCDC COVID-19-infected personnel from November to December 2020. We collect-ed data using SurveyMonkey. STATA 14 analyzed the data.

Results. 172 of 300 afflicted NCDC staff participated in this study. One-third were between 30 and 39; most were male (104, 60.5%). Most participants worked in the lab (30%) or surveillance (24%). Only 19% (33/172) of participants con-firmed pandemic deployment. Most reported interaction with a confirmed case (112/65.1%). Most people (78, 45.3%) felt unhappy when diagnosed. Anger, worry, and low motivation also ranked high (19). The majority reported adequate financial, moral, or psychosocial assistance (26, 70.6%).

Conclusions. NCDC staff had a high SARS-CoV-2 infection rate and emotional damage. We urge stricter infection control methods when sending staff for outbreaks response to prevent additional transmission, as well as ongoing psychosocial and eco-nomic assistance for afflicted workers.

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Saleh, F., Olatunji, D. I., Ofeimun, E., Okpokoro, E., Crawford, E., Dalhat, M., Igumbor, E., Eziechina, S., Inweregbu, S., Ochu, C. L., & Chikwe, I. (2023). Epidemiology and psychosocial assessment of COVID-19 among workers of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control infected with COVID-19. Journal of Public Health in Africa, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.4081/jphia.2023.2185