Adherence to COVID-19 Preventive measures among Pregnant Women in Nigeria: An Initiative towards Safe Motherhood in an Emerging Global Health Priority

Background aim: Reducing the rate of COVID-19 transmission and infection has remained as a major public health priority in pregnancy, while the Safe Motherhood Initiative aims at attaining optimal maternal and new-born health, reduction in maternal mortality and morbidity. This study was conducted to assess knowledge and level of adherence towards COVID-19 preventive measures as well as identifying the factors influencing the level of adherence among pregnant women in Nigeria. Methods: This study adopted a descriptive cross-sectional design involving 442 pregnant women who attended antenatal clinic between August 15th and September 30th, 2020 in a tertiary health facility in South West Nigeria. Respondents were selected through a two-stage sampling technique and answered to an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Data obtained from 431 pregnant (97.5% response rate) were analyzed using SPSS software version 25 with descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: Findings showed that 31.6% of the pregnant women had good knowledge about COVID-19 prevention, 48.0% had fair knowledge and 20.4% had poor knowledge. Also, 78.0% had high level of adherence to COVID-19 preventive measures and 14.2% moderately adhere while 7.9% had low level of adherence to COVID-19 preventive measures. Regression analysis revealed that high level adherence to COVID-19 preventive measures was significantly associated with Hausa (p=0.03, RRR=0.03, CI=0.001-0.76) and Igbo ethnicity (p=0.01, RRR=0.05, 0.005-0.51), while moderate adherence was significantly associated with secondary education (p=0.04, RRR=5.25, CI= 1.06-26.18). Conclusion: Improving adherence to preventive measures against COVID-19 among pregnant women requires advocacy that prioritize women’s education and address various forms of ethnic and cultural misconceptions about COVID-19 infection.