the virus that causes it has spread to over 110 countries, including Nigeria. 1-3 Although the impact of COVID-19 on pregnant women is not yet clear, there are concerns over its potential effect on maternal and perinatal outcomes due to unique immunological suppression during pregnancy. 4,5 The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended a series of preventive measures to halt the spread of the disease and its associated mortality. 3 In Nigeria, these preventive measures have been adopted, along with media campaigns to disseminate information on the measures to the general public. However, the level of knowledge and practice of these preventive measures against the spread of the virus among pregnant women, who constitute a vulnerable group, is yet to be evaluated.Between February 1 and March 31, 2020, we conducted a cross-sectional study to determine the knowledge and practice of preventive measures to protect against the virus causing COVID-19 among pregnant women attending prenatal care at Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, Nigeria. The study received ethical approval from the Research and Ethics Committee of the Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, and participants provided written informed consent. A pretested and validated self-administered questionnaire derived from the review of literature on WHO recommendations on preventive measures against COVID-19 was used to collect the data. 6 The variables assessed were age, parity, marital status, area of residence, occupation, participant's level of education, husband's level of education, and knowledge and practice of preventive measures. The measures assessed by the study questions were: (1) frequent hand washing with soap and water or using alcohol-based hand sanitizers; (2) maintaining at least 1 m distance from others; (3) avoiding touching eyes, nose, and mouth with hands; (4) covering mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing; (5) wearing a face mask in public; and (6) staying indoors.The questionnaire had a 12-item scale (six items for knowledge and six items for practice). The scoring system was 2 (for a correct answer) or 0 (for an incorrect answer). The minimum score was 0 whereas the maximum score was 12 for both the knowledge and practice components. Participants who scored 60% or more (score of 8-12) were classified as having adequate knowledge, whereas those who scored less than 60% (score up to 6) were classified as having inadequate knowledge. Women who scored 100% (score of 12) were classified as having good practice whereas those who scored less than 100% (score below 12) were classified as having poor practice.Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 22 (IBM Corp, Armonk, NY, USA). Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated for variables of interest. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.Of 284 pregnant participants, 173 (60.9%) had adequate knowledge of preventive measures. However, overall practice of these measures among pa...

Background:Coronavirus disease pandemic has resulted in death of thousands of people across several countries. Several preventive measures have been recommended to halt the spread of the disease and its associated mortality. However, the level knowledge and practice of these preventive measures against COVID-19 infection among pregnant women, which constitute vulnerable groups, are yet to be evaluated. Aim:To determine the knowledge and practice of preventive measures against COVID-19 infection among pregnant women in Abakaliki. Materials and Methods:This was a self-administered questionnaire-based cross-sectional study conducted from February 1, 2020 to March 31, 2020 among 284 antenatal clinic attendees at Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State. A pretested and validated questionnaire was used to collect the data. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 22.Results: Of 284 participants, 60.9% (n=173) had adequate knowledge of the preventive measures against COVID-19 infection. However, the overall practice of these preventive measures among the participants were poor as 69.7% of the participants were not practicing the preventive measures against the coronavirus. The determinants of poor practice of the preventive measures among the participants were being in age group 31-40 years (AOR=2.04, 95%CI: 1.26 -5.37, p=0.022), married (AOR=2.99, 95%CI: 1.40 -6.33, p=0.035) grandmultiparous (AOR=3.11, 95%CI:1.32 -6.56, p=0.021), residing in rural area (AOR=2.08, 95%CI: 1.32 -4.05, p=0.031), and having no formal education (AOR=6.73, 95%CI: 2.66 -18.34, p=0.002).