THE NHIS-BASED HEALTH WORKFORCE: AN EXPLORATION OF THEIR KNOWLEDGE AND PERCEPTION OF COVID-19.

Abstract

Aim: The knowledge and perception of COVID-19 was assessed amongst healthcare workers in the 
National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) clinic of a tertiary hospital in Nigeria. 
Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted amongst healthcare workers in the 
National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) clinic of a tertiary hospital in Nigeria, which offers outpatient 
primary care services to enrollees on the National Health Insurance Scheme of Nigeria. A pre-tested 
semi-structured questionnaire was used to obtain data from the participants. Data analysis was done 
using the IBM SPSS Statistics version 22.0 (Chicago, IL, USA) statistical software.
Results: There were 49 study participants with 22 males and 27 females (M:F = 1:1.2). The mean age 
was 35.58.6years. All the study participants were aware of COVID-19 with television being the highest 
source of information on COVID-19, followed by the internet and social media. Majority of the 
respondents had fair knowledge of COVID-19 (n=25, 51.1%). Only occupation (p=0.03) was significantly 
associated with knowledge of COVID-19. Majority of the respondents believed COVID-19 is real.
Conclusion: Whereas all the study participants were aware of COVID-19, most of them had fair 
knowledge of the disease and believed COVID-19 is real.