Asian Journal of Medicine and Health

Introduction: Coronavirus disease is one of leading causes of deaths in recent times that has surpassed cardiovascular and other respiratory diseases. The World Health Organization (WHO) setup Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that have been adopted by the different governments to curtail its spread. Nonetheless, information on the adherence to the SOPs amongst market vendors is not well elucidated. Moreover, markets are centers of convergence of many people which increases the risks of community transmission. Therefore, our study, investigated the extent of the adherence to the SOPs amongst market vendors in Sironko district.

Methodology:  A quantitative study with cross-sectional design was adopted with a sample size of 221 randomly selected participants. Pretested structured questionnaires were used in the data collection. Categorical data was presented in tables and graphs with frequency (%). Pearson’s Chi-square (X²) was used to examine the statistical significance of our results.  The analysis was done by using the statistical software MedCalc version 20.0008. All the analyses were done at 95% level of significance and a p<0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: A total of 221 participants were involved: 126, 57 % female, 80, 36% aged between 31-40 years and 158, 72% married.  Fever, dry cough, chest pain, arches & pain loss of speech & movements were the most reported signs and symptoms of COVID-19 (p<0.0001). Most of the respondents were aware of the SOPs, hand washing soap and adequate water were readily available (p<0.0001). The commonly implemented SOP was wearing face masks (p<0.0001). The radio talk shows & broadcasting were the main sources of information(p<0.0001). The inadequate facemasks and limited finances constrained the Implementation of SOPs (p<0.0001). 

Conclusion:  Most market vendors were aware of the COVID-19 SOPs and claimed they adhered. However, there is need to carry out a qualitative study to confirm the above claims.