Knowledge, Attitude, and Prevention Practices Toward Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

\n Background\n Coronavirus disease is a major global public health problem. The contagious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), was declared a pandemic following the outbreak of cases of respiratory illness in 2019. While studies assessed COVID-19 knowledge, attitude, and practice in Ethiopia the findings were highly variable and inconsistent.\n 1–4\n Therefore, this study assessed the pooled status of knowledge, attitude, and prevention practices regarding COVID -19 in Ethiopia.\n \n Methods\n International and national electronic databases, including PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Google Scholar, Science Direct, and Google, were systematically searched. All observational studies on COVID-19 knowledge, attitude, and prevention practices in Ethiopia were included. We assessed heterogeneity among the included studies using the Cochrane Q test statistics and I2 test. Lastly, a random-effects meta-analysis model was fitted to estimate the pooled proportion of knowledge, attitude, and prevention practices toward COVID-19 in Ethiopia.\n \n Results\n Our search identified 206 studies, 13 of which were included in the final analysis. Adequate knowledge, good attitude, and good prevention practice towards COVID-19 in Ethiopia were observed in 70.25% (95% confidence interval [CI], 61.82, 78.02), 69.08% (95% CI: 55.42, 81.24), and 41.62% (95% CI: 27.77, 56.17) of total participants across studies, respectively.\n \n Conclusion\n The results of this study revealed low proportions of adequate knowledge, attitudes, and preventive practices toward COVID-19 in Ethiopia. The lowest pooled proportion was observed in the Amhara region. These findings indicate the need to revise plans and policies to improve the knowledge, attitudes, and prevention practices of people towards COVID-19 in Ethiopia, especially in the Amhara region.\n