Preventing the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (causative agent for COVID-19) requires implementing contact and respiratory precautions. Modifying human behavior is challenging and requires understanding knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAPs) regarding health threats. This study explored KAPs among people in Ecuador. A cross-sectional, internet-based questionnaire was used to assess knowledge about COVID-19, attitudes toward ability to control COVID-19, self-reported practices related to COVID-19, and demographics. A total of 2399 individuals participated. Participants had moderate to high levels of knowledge. Participants expressed mixed attitudes about the eventual control of COVID-19 in Ecuador. Participants reported high levels of adoption of preventive practices. Binomial regression analysis suggests unemployed individuals, househusbands/housewives, or manual laborers, as well as those with an elementary school education, have lower levels of knowledge. Women, people over 50 years of age, and those with higher levels of schooling were the most optimistic. Men, individuals 18–29, single, and unemployed people took the riskiest behaviors. Generally, knowledge was not associated with optimism or with practices. Our findings indicate knowledge about COVID-19 is insufficient to prompt behavioral change among Ecuadorians. Since current COVID-19 control campaigns seek to educate the public, these efforts’ impacts are likely to be limited. Given attitudes determine people’s actions, further investigation into the factors underlying the lack of confidence in the ability of the world, and of Ecuador, to overcome COVID-19, is warranted. Edu-communicational campaigns should be accompanied by efforts to provide economically disadvantaged populations resources to facilitate adherence to recommendations to prevent the spread of the virus.

With a growing interest in the study of urban life and health, evidence indicates that the quality of the environment in which we live can have implications for our subjective well-being and health. This study assesses the potential impacts of perceptions of visual air pollution, olfactory air pollution, and noise pollution on self-perceived health, self-perceived happiness, and satisfaction with life, through the calculation of ordinal logistic regressions, using the information of an online survey carried out in Quito, Ecuador. We found that perceptions of unpleasant odors and noise pollution influence self-perceived health, self-perceived happiness, and satisfaction with life. The obtained results may support the incorporation of citizens’ perspectives to better understand environmental pollution and to enrich local planning for urban sustainability.

Despite efforts within Ecuador to combat violence against women (VAW), the country still claims some of the highest rates of violence in the Americas. In this study, we complete a cultural visual analysis of anti-VAW public art in a small Ecuadorian city. Visual data is examined and interpreted by way of the social-ecological model (SEM). Specifically, our analysis considers how murals engage with the depiction of (a) VAW, (b) agentic responses to VAW, and (c) the different layers of the SEM. Our analysis identifies four specific strategies for constructing public art messaging to help achieve freedom from VAW.