Knowledge, Attitudes, Practices, and Misconceptions towards COVID-19 among Sub-Sahara Africans
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Chidera Gabriel Obi 1 , Leo Fosso Fozeu 2 , Ephraim Ibeabuchi Ezaka 1 3 , Chisom Ochonma 1 , Robert Kamwela 4 5 *
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1 Department of Parasitology and Entomology, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, NIGERIA2 Bafmen Sub-Divisional Hospital, Northwest Region, CAMEROON3 Department of Medical Laboratory Technology, College of Health Technology, Adamawa, NIGERIA4 Department of Economics, University of Malawi, Zomba, MALAWI5 Institute of Development Policy and Management, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, BELGIUM* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 is a viral disease that can be transmitted from one person to another. The virus was first reported in Wuhan, China in 2019 and Nigeria recorded the first case of COVID-19 in Sub-Sahara Africa in 2020. The right knowledge, attitudes, and practices are essential in curbing the spread of the virus. Hence, the study was conducted to assess the level of knowledge, attitude, practice, and misconception of Sub-Sahara Africa towards COVID-19 and identifying the factors associated with COVID-19.
Method: An online cross-sectional survey was conducted among respondents from Sub-Sahara Africa from December 2020 to June 2021. This study involved respondents from six African countries, the responses were gotten from Kenya and Sudan (representing East Africa) Nigeria and Ghana (representing West Africa), Cameroon (representing Central Africa), and Malawi (representing Southern Africa). Data collected was analyzed using IBM SPSS version 26.0.
Results: A total of 913 respondents participated in this study with the majority of the age group coming from 21-30 (70.9%). The result indicates that the majority have a good level of knowledge (89.9%) and attitude (97.7%) with an insufficient level of practice (61%). Also, the majority of the respondents had an acceptable level of misconception (84%). 67% of the respondents believe that 5G causes COVID-19. The majority of the respondents reckon that everyone should wear a facemask (90.3%) and that alcohol does not cure COVID-19 (85.9%).
Conclusions: The study suggests that Sub-Sahara Africans have adequate knowledge and Attitude without sufficient practice towards COVID-19. Improved policies, awareness and sensitization campaigns should be carried out by government and social media companies to ensure adequate practice towards COVID-19. Furthermore, these findings should be considered by policymakers to implement interventions for outbreaks.

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EUR J ENV PUBLIC HLT, Volume 6, Issue 1, 2022, Article No: em0101

https://doi.org/10.21601/ejeph/11559

Publication date: 14 Jan 2022

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Article Downloads: 2129

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