Assessment on knowledge, attitude, practices and risk of infection towards COVID-19 in Ethiopia: An online cross-sectional survey

Abstract

COVID-19 has ushered in a catastrophe of an unprecedented scale across all parts of the world. Confirmed cases and death toll are constantly on an upward trend. Various measures to control the disease have been adopted globally including in Ethiopia. However, people’s adherence to such control measures is affected by their knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) during the pandemic. This cross-sectional online survey was therefore, conducted to appraise the KAP vis-a-vis COVID-19 containment strategy during May 13-25, 2020. The online survey questionnaire consisted of demographic characteristics and interrogations, pertaining to knowledge (15 items), attitude (10 items) and practices (7 items), framed in accordance to previous studies. A total of 1,484 respondents completed the survey. The overall correct response rating and average score of the knowledge were 74.7 % and 11.2 ± 2.2 respectively. Maximum respondents (63 %) could be bracketed together with a moderate level on knowledge, attitudes while only 43 % had moderate level of practice, with significant difference across demographic variables. Despite the moderate level, the practices were not creditable as the registered values evinced that 1 out of 5 never wore nose mask, washed hands or maintained social distance. In a similar vein, 17.6 %, and 43.2 % of the respondents were in high and in medium risk of infection, respectively. Results of our study recommended the importance and need of health education programs aimed at improving KAP, especially the practices in the milieu of COVID-19.

COVID-19 knowledge, attitude and frequent hand hygiene practices among taxi drivers and associated factors in urban areas of Ethiopia

“…It is much higher than the findings from other Ethiopian studies 37.59%, 41.3%, 42.9%, 45.89% and 60.5% [34][35][36][37][38], from Syria 60% [39], and from Pakistan 54.3% [40]. But this finding was lower than in some studies in Ethiopia 93.8%, 88.2% and 74.7% [41][42][43], from Nigeria 78.6%, 99.5% and 86.6% [44][45][46], from Cameroon 84.19% [47], from USA 80% [48], from Pakistan 75.5% and 93.2% [49,50], from Malaysia 80.5% [51], from China 89%, 90% and 82.34% [20,52,53], from Iran 87.7% [54] and from Bangladesh 54.87% and 61.2% [55,56]. This variation might be caused by differences in the study area and type of questions used.…”

Practices and associated factors of infection prevention of nurses working in public and private hospitals toward COVID-19 in Bahir Dar City, Northwest Ethiopia: Institution-based cross-sectional study

“… 24 , 25 The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Ministry of Health in collaboration with WHO and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) trained nurses on the prevention and control of COVID-19, but the pandemic is still not under control. The worldwide and Ethiopian controlling measures, such as hand hygiene, wearing PPE, patient isolation, and social distancing in compliance with nursing staff are influenced by many factors, 26 , 27 such as age, gender, work experience, educational level, and marital status.…”

Public Knowledge, Attitudes, Practices towards COVID-19 and assessment of risks of infection: An online cross-sectional survey in India

“…There are conflicting schools of thought, one vouching for its bioweapon backdrop and the other advocating its natural origin. Four out of ten Indians agreed that it is a manufactured/ synthetic entity; almost similar response (36 %) was noticed among Nigerians(Isah et al, 2020) while 1 out of 5 respondents in Ethiopia believed likewise(Benor et al, 2020).…”