Knowledge, Attitude and Prevention Practice of COVID-19 in South-West Nigeria

Abstract

Introduction: To assess knowledge, attitude and prevention practice of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Southwest, Nigeria. This was an online cross-sectional study among dwellers of southwest Nigeria. Methods: Data were collected online with kobo toolbox and analyzed using the Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS, 2018) and the descriptive statistics, test of independence and binary logistic regression were presented. Results: Of the 286 study participants, 96.1% had good knowledge, 99.3% had positive attitude towards control of COVID-19, while 77.3% had good practices for prevention of the virus. Majority of the participants (86.9%) had tertiary education, 11.3% were 40 years or older. Age and education were independently associated with COVID-19 prevention practice. After adjustment for some selected socio-demographic factors, only age of 10 – 19 years (OR: 3.83, CI: 1.05, 14), age 20-29 years (OR: 2.99, CI: 1.18 -7.55), and 30 -39 years (OR: 4.35, CI: 1.49-12.67) were more likely to have good practice of COVID-19 prevention compared to age >=40 years. Conclusion: The result revealed a high prevalence of good practices, and the majority had good knowledge of COVID-19 and positive attitude towards control of COVID-19. Age and education were identified to be associated with practice of COVID-19 prevention. Further exploration revealed that elders (>=40years) were not likely to have good practice of COVID-19 prevention. We deduced that good practice of COVID-19 prevention was high in southwest Nigeria but notably low among elders and those who attained below tertiary education in southwest Nigeria. However, people of older age and poor education should be given much attention for proper enlightening and prevention strategies in this pandemic.