Title
Mass masking as a way to contain COVID-19 and exit lockdown in low- and middle-income countries
Date Issued
01 September 2020
Access level
open access
Resource Type
letter
Author(s)
Siewe Fodjo J.N.
Pengpid S.
Villela E.F.d.M.
Van Thang V.
Ahmed M.
Ditekemena J.
Crespo B.V.
Wanyenze R.K.
Dula J.
Watanabe T.
Driessche K.V.
Van den Bergh R.
Colebunders R.
University of Antwerp
Publisher(s)
W.B. Saunders Ltd
Abstract
In new guidelines published on June 5th 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that in areas with ongoing COVID-19 community transmission, governments should encourage the general public to wear face masks in specific situations and settings as part of a comprehensive approach to suppress COVID-19 transmission. Recent online surveys in 206,729 persons residing in nine low- and middle-income countries showed that 32.7%-99.7% of respondents used face masks with significant differences across age groups and sexes. Targeted health promotion strategies and government support are required to increase mask use by the general population.
Start page
e1
End page
e5
Volume
81
Issue
3
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Epidemiología
Enfermedades infecciosas
Salud pública, Salud ambiental
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85089101109
PubMed ID
Source
Journal of Infection
ISSN of the container
01634453
Sponsor(s)
The authors declare no conflicts of interest. RC receives funding from the European Research Council (grant number 671055 ). All participants provided an informed e-consent (checkbox) before submitting their data anonymously.
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus