Effectiveness of prevention and control measures employed to address the spread of covid-19 in Zambia: a study of selected townships in Mufulira district.

The novel Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) which started in Wuhan, China in December 2019 has continued to spread in Zambia, causing death, in the worst cases as well as imposing psychological, social and economic problems. Despite, the stringent public health and social measures put in place to prevent and control disease, the virus continued to spread. Therefore, the study examined the effectiveness of the prevention and control measures implemented to address the spread of the Covid-19 in Mufulira, Zambia. The study used descriptive research design supplemented by quantitative and qualitative methodology with a sample size of 120. Purposively and simple random sampling was use and interviewed, questionnaires and onsite observations were conducted. Quantitative data was analysed using Microsoft Excel 2010 to generate frequencies, percentages, tables and graphs. While qualitative date used thematic analysis to obtain emerging themes which were presented descriptively. The study findings revealed that participants were aware of COVID-19 disease with the majority, 86 (72%) affirming of the realness and mode of transmission of the disease, while 19 (28%) indicated that the disease was not real but a make up of the health sector. The findings also showed that a minority of participants felt that the preventive measure were effective, while the majority believed that the measures were not effective. It was further noted that only 60 (50%) of the respondents in the study sites complied with the preventative measures. In addition, the findings indicated the lack of testing and delayed diagnosis including poor surveillance system contributed to the ineffectiveness. It was conclusively assumed that the preventive and control measure employed to address the spread of the COVID-19 disease in Mufulira were not effective in slowing down the spread of the disease. The recommendations of the study are the need to enhance community engagement, continue awareness in different local languages and establishment of local laboratories for testing of COVIDL-19 and actively involve counselling in the creation of awareness among the residents.