An ongoing outbreak of monkeypox was confirmed on 6 May 2022, beginning with a British resident who, after travelling to Nigeria (where the disease is endemic), presented symptoms consistent with monkeypox on 29 April 2022. The resident returned to the United Kingdom on 4 May, creating the country’s index case of the outbreak.
The epidemic has since spread and as of 19 of October 2022, there are 109 affected countries according to WHO.
In the past five months since the beginning of the epidemic, a number of reports surveying population behaviour changes have been published. As of mid October 2022, we have identified 21 – published mainly in August and September 2022.
Indicator Coverage
The four most frequently available indicators are: 1) risk perception, 2) vaccine willingness, 3) knowledge of transmission routes and symptoms, and 4) adoption of preventative measures.
Vaccine Willingness
Available surveys seem to show a higher willingness among currently exposed populations (LGBTQ+ community, men who have sex with men or MSM, healthcare workers).
Risk Perception
Similarly, the perception of risk (how likely respondents think they are to catch the disease) is higher among currently exposed populations – with the noticeable exception of MSM living with HIV which display a risk perception closer to that of the overall population. The latter finding is potentially a result of a population group already focused on preventative measures.
Knowledge
When collecting information about knowledge of this disease, we concentrate on the main symptoms (e.g. rash, fever, aches, swollen lymph nodes) and transmission routes (e.g. direct/indirect contact, sexual intercourse). These questions, however, do not seem to be asked to currently exposed populations (to a smaller extent they have been asked of HCWs).
Socio-behavioural surveys: accessible by clicking on each data point on the above graphs
Method
The researches for this socio-behavioural survey were run between October 14th and 21st, in English and French-languages and as open access publications for everyone, from around the world.
Search queries – such as “monkeypox social behaviour studies”, “monkeypox KAPs studies”, “monkeypox perception survey” with keywords such as “knowledge”, “vaccine”, “stigmatisation”, “sexual behaviours”, “men having sex with men”, “MSM ”, “LGBT” – were used to locate relevant studies.
Mask wearing is one of the main preventative measures to protect oneself and others against COVID-19. The harshest of the epidemic being hopefully behind us, let’s take a look back at how mask wearing was adopted and whether we can learn any lessons for any new epidemic that could appear. blablabla
TREND
Based on the data we have gathered, the mask wearing trend at global level shows a sharp rise at the beginning of the epidemic from March 20 to June 20, a plateau, and a slow and finally sharp decrease from March 22.
The same pattern can be observed for each region – with different levels – although WCAR, ESAR and MENA show a bit of a drop around end of 2020.
Across all regions mask wearing increases with stricter policies. The only exception is Asia where mask wearing is constant (maybe because this has a widespread habit long before COVID-19 there?)
Mask wearing is one of the main preventative measures to protect oneself and others against COVID-19. The harshest of the epidemic being hopefully behind us, let’s take a look back at how mask wearing was adopted and whether we can learn any lessons for any new epidemic that could appear. blablabla
TREND
Global
Based on the data we have gathered, the mask wearing trend at global level shows a sharp rise at the beginning of the epidemic from March 20 to June 20, a plateau, and a slow and finally sharp decrease from March 22.
By region
The same pattern can be observed for each region, with just different levels.
MASK POLICy
The most obvious driver to explain the evolution of mask wearing is the mask policy applied in each country.
Global
At a global level there is a good correlation between the level of mask policy and mask wearing – except since March 2022.
By Region
Across all regions mask wearing increases with stricter policies. The only exception is Asia where mask wearing is constant (maybe because this has a widespread habit long before COVID-19 there?)
Fragility index
Inhabitants of fragile countries are less likely to report mask wearing
By Gender
Women are more likely to report mask wearing
by age group
Mask wearing increases with age, except for the oldest group
How is your contry doing?
learn more
JAMA Network – Widespread Misinformation About Infertility Continues to Create COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy (Feb. 2022)
PubMed – COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and associated factors among women attending antenatal and postnatal cares in Central Gondar Zone public hospitals, Northwest Ethiopia (Feb. 2022)
Research Gate – Examining Enablers of Vaccine Hesitancy Toward Routine Childhood and Adolescent Vaccination in Malawi (Nov. 2021)
The Lancet – A Retrospective Analysis of the COVID-19 Vaccine Express Strategy in Malawi: An Effort to Reach the Un-Reach (Apr. 2022)
News Guard – Coronavirus Misinformation Tracking Center
In East and Southern Africa region, COVID-19 Vaccine campaign is facing to an evident gender gap with women’s intention to be vaccinated lower than men’s. This data snapshot takes a deeper look into potential reasons for vaccine hesitancy among ESAR women, as well as highlighting some specific access related issues they face.
