Health awareness of rural households towards COVID‐19 pandemic in India: Evidence from Rural Impact Survey of the World Bank

• Published date: 01 February 2023
• Author: Jabir Ali,Sarbjit Singh,Waseem Khan
• Date: 01 February 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2819

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Health awareness of rural households towards COVID-19

pandemic in India: Evidence from Rural Impact Survey

of the World Bank

Jabir Ali

1

| Sarbjit Singh

1

| Waseem Khan

2

1

Economics & Business Environment, Indian

Institute of Management, Old University

Campus, Jammu and Kashmir, India

2

Department of Management Studies, School

of Management and Business Studies, Jamia

Hamdard University, New Delhi, India

Correspondence

Jabir Ali, Indian Institute of Management, Old

University Campus, Canal Road, Jammu

180016, Jammu and Kashmir, India.

Email: jabirali@iimj.ac.in

This paper aims at analysing the level of awareness of the symptoms and the

methods of protection from COVID-19 based on the Rural Impact Survey of the

World Bank, collected from 5200 households belonging to six states in India that is,

Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.

Data has been analysed using chi-square test and regression analysis. Results of the

analysis indicate that about 70.8% rural households are aware of the symptom of

coronavirus, and 81.9% are aware of the preventive measures for controlling the

spread of COVID-19. Analysis indicates a significant association between awareness

level on symptoms and prevention of COVID-19 and socio-demographics and loca-

tion. The study further analyses the key determinants of awareness of COVID-19

symptoms and preventive measures using the logistics regression model, indicating

that age, gender, education, income, poverty status, access to information, cash relief

and medical services are the determining factors of health awareness on COVID-19

pandemic among rural households in India. Considering the importance of self-

protecting measures in fighting the pandemic, this paper highlights the importance of

strengthening public awareness for containing the spread of the COVID-19

pandemic.

KEYWORDS

COVID-19 pandemic, India, prevention, public awareness, rural households, symptoms

1|INTRODUCTION

The infection caused by coronavirus has become a global public health

issue and the World Health Organisation (2020) declared COVID-19

as public health emergency of international concern. The containment

of the spread of the coronavirus disease was of prime importance,

which led the imposition of a global lockdown in the beginning phase.

Immediate scientific researches emphasised that awareness can act in

an impactful way to deal with this kind of gloomy situation (Zhao

et al., 2021). Lack of awareness can increase the risk of contracting

the virus leading to psychological disorders like anxiety and depres-

sion as an aftermath (Wang et al., 2020, Hao et al., 2020). Therefore,

a moderate to high level of awareness can reduce the chances of

contracting the virus and thus can be helpful in preventing psychologi-

cal suffering and morbidity (Liu et al., 2021; Vijaya et al., 2005). As the

outbreak of COVID-19 has created threatening and challenging situa-

tions (She et al., 2020), governments across the world have issued

awareness guidelines broadly including information about safeguards,

symptoms, risks due to illness, medical treatment, and vaccination

(Galv˜ao, 2021; Zarocostas, 2020).

India has responded promptly to manage the pandemic and the

concerned ministries, especially the Ministry of Home Affairs and

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) along with various

health departments, have taken several measures to contain COVID-

19. A national lockdown was declared in March 2020 followed by an

announcement of a relief package of Rs. 20 Lakh crore to provide

Received: 1 August 2021 Revised: 10 May 2022 Accepted: 12 May 2022

DOI: 10.1002/pa.2819

J Public Affairs. 2023;23:e2819. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa © 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 1of11

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2819