Knowledge and practice of clients on preventive measures of COVID-19 pandemic among governmental health facilities in South Wollo, Ethiopia: A facility-based cross-sectional study

Abstract

Introduction Coronavirus-19 is a global health challenge and need an immediate action. Thus, understanding client’s knowledge about SARS-COV2 causes, roots of transmissions, and prevention strategies are urgently warranted. Although there were global studies reported knowledge and preventive practices of COVID-19, but the information is not representative and inclusive for Ethiopia. Thus, the current study is done to identify the knowledge and the prevention strategies for COVID-19 among clients in South Wollo, Ethiopia. Methods An institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted from May 21 to 30, 2020 among clients seeking service in Dessie town health facilities. A total of 81 clients were included from the selected health facilities with simple random sampling technique. We developed measuring tools by adopting from World Health Organization and center for disease prevention recommendation manual for assessing service providers’ knowledge and preventive practices. For data entry Epi-data 3.1 version was employed and further data management and analysis was performed using STATA Version 14. Student T-test and one way ANOVA were computed to see the mean difference in knowledge and practice between and among the group. Chi-square test was also done to portray the presence of association between different co-variants with client’s knowledge and preventive practices. Results Findings of the study showed that more than half (56.8%) of the participants had good knowledge about its symptoms, way of spread and prevention of the virus. Furthermore, 65.4% of clients demonstrated five or more preventive practice measures of COVID-19. The mean preventive practice score with standard deviation was (4.75±1.28 from 6 components). In the current study, knowledge had no significant difference among sex, education status, and monthly income. However, COVID-19 transmission knowledge was significantly higher among urban residents. Thus, clients who were knowledgeable about way of transmission and symptoms of COVID-19 had significantly higher COVID-19 preventive practice. Conclusion Our findings revealed that clients’ knowledge and preventive practice of COVID-19 were not optimal. Clients with good knowledge and urban residents had practiced better prevention measures of the pandemic, signifying that packages and programs directed in enhancing knowledge about the virus is useful in combating the pandemic and continuing safe practices.

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Misconceptions About COVID-19 Prevention Practices Among High and Preparatory School Students in Dessie City, Ethiopia

“…The great majority (378, 90.6%) of participants knew that proper hand washing procedures (for at least 20 seconds with soap and water) can prevent COVID-19, a result similar to findings in studies in southwestern Ethiopia (92.7%), 27 South Wollo, Ethiopia (93.83%), 28 in Bangladesh (93.5%), 29 Egypt (94%), 30 and Nepal (97%), 31 but higher than in Addis Zemen Hospital, (78.5%), 32 Gondar City (53%) 33 and Amhara Region (79%, 34 all in Ethiopia. These discrepancies may be due to differences in the socio-demographic characteristics of the study populations and the effectiveness of national and local COVID-19 prevention programs.…”

Assessment of COVID-19-related awareness, knowledge, prevention practices and challenges faced by truck drivers in major transport cities of India: a cross-sectional survey

“…Previous literature regarding prevention practices and awareness regarding COVID-19 on the global platform have focused on topics such as perspectives, awareness levels and barriers reported by health professionals in implementing prevention strategies,25–28 42 and the attitudes, knowledge levels and practices followed among certain populations 25 29–34 43. Literature focused on the Indian population en masse highlights the need for knowledge and awareness programmes regarding COVID-19,20–24 44 and prevention practices currently being followed 20 21 23.…”

“…Considerable literature has been published regarding the knowledge and awareness of COVID-19 and prevention practices across populations,20–34 highlighting the need for the same. However, among the nomadic truck driver population, knowledge, awareness and prevention practice, assessments have been limited to other health conditions 35–39.…”

In-Vivo Toxicity of Bioreactor-Grown Biomass And Exopolysaccharides From Malaysian Tiger Milk Mushroom Mycelium For Potential Future Health Applications

“…Bioactive compounds, such as -glucans, were found in these L. rhinocerus MB-EPS extracts; use of glucans have gained appeal in recent years for a number of emerging applications including biopolymers 30 and biomedicines 31 . It is notable that mushroom-derived -glucans have many new therapeutic properties, including (a) potential new or complementary immunotherapies against Coronavirus disease (SARS-CoV-2) 14 , (b) potential new therapeutic agent for mitigating diseases associated with gastrointestinal mucosal damage, such as peptic ulcers and inflammatory bowel disease 32 , (c) potential as anticancer drugs for lung and breast cancer 33 , and (d) potentially asthmatic treatment 23,34 . However, there is a marked gap in knowledge surrounding the toxicity (if any), of these mushroom-derived bioactive compounds; particularly use of Zebrafish trials that would aid product development and implementation.…”

“…Recent studies have reported on the efficacy of EPS from medicinal mushrooms to ameliorate pro-and anti-inflammatory responses using ex vivo and in vivo infection models with therapeutic potential 12,14,22 . Aqueous extracts of L. rhinocerotis were reported to help reduce asthmarelated variables in asthma model 23 . In addition, a previous toxicity study indicated that feeding 1000 mg/kg of L. rhinocerus extract to rats had no detrimental consequences, hence considered safe 24 .…”