Social Work Responses and Household-level Determinants of Coronavirus Preparedness in Rural Ethiopia

The novel coronavirus caused the death of many people globally, and in Ethiopia. The death of people due to COVID surpasses 1,466,289with more than 63,135,973 cases in the world. This study aimed to identify the barriers toward the understanding of COVID-19, the rural (agrarians) public commitment to respond coronavirus, and the factors that affect their preparedness in rural Ethiopia. Probit regression and descriptive statistics were used to analyze data from a sample of 190 respondents. The result revealed that the public infrastructural problems (roads, health centers, telecommunication and broadcasting service) were the main barriers identified in this study. In response, the agricultural and health extension providers, college and university students, local administrators and government official, religious leaders, and community elders were contributing to enhance the public understanding and preparedness. The model result confirmed that gender, age group, family education level, membership to communal association, family mobile usage, health extension service, non-farm income, and economic situation were significant factors for preparedness. Intervention aimed at easing identified key limit factors to rural and agrarian community preparedness as well as the way to enhance public understanding through reasonable support to local stakeholders against COVID-19.