Harare City Council embarks on Covid-19 study

HARARE City Council has embarked on a city-wide Covid-19 study aimed at assessing the level of understanding of the illness.

Findings of the study are expected to inform programming for better response to the pandemic that has so far claimed two lives in the city with 99 confirmed cases, most in city quarantine centres.

Confirming the latest development, Harare City Council director for Health Services Dr Prosper Chonzi said the study was funded by US$25 000 given by the Bloomberg Foundation.

Dr Chonzi said this study will focus on the knowledge, attitudes and practices.

“We want to identify the knowledge gaps around Covid 19. What attitudes do people have around the virus and also the practices? For example, do people know the existence of Covid 19 in the first place? Do they know how it is transmitted and how it is prevented? Why should somebody wear a face mask, and why should somebody protect the next person?” said Dr Chonzi.

He said this study is also anticipated to strengthen the city’s surveillance system

“This is important because it will let us know where this disease is. We know how it is being transmitted from person to person and we can know the trends in the city of Harare so that we also compare with other cities,” said Dr Chonzi. He thanked the foundation for facilitating webinars among local authorities around the world.

“We are doing Webinars every week on Tuesdays and we are sharing ideas on how other cities and countries are responding to Covid-19,” said Dr Chonzi.

Bloomberg Foundation is a US-based organisation founded by former New York City mayor Mr Michael Bloomberg. The foundation recently made a total grant of US$40 million to prevent or slow the spread of Covid-19 in vulnerable low and middle income countries.