Knowledge of COVID-19 and its prevention among residents of the Gedeo zone, South Ethiopia. Sources of information as a factor

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 was declared as a pandemic in March 2020. After confirming the first case, the Ethiopian government has been working a lot to prevent transmission. Most of the reported cases were identified from traveling abroad. Effective prevention and control practices depend on awareness and compliance among the population at all levels. The main objective of this study is to determine the knowledge level and its association with sources of information towards COVID-19 and its prevention techniques in the Gedeo Zone of Southern Ethiopia. Methods: There are 10 knowledge questions regarding COVID-19 and its prevention techniques. The maximum knowledge score for each question was 1 and the minimum 0, where 0 was scored for incorrect and 1 for correct answers. The overall knowledge score ranges from 0 to 10, where a score of 0–5 as poor knowledge and a score from 6–10 as good knowledge. Bivariate and multivariate binary logistic regression was used to determine the association between dependent and independent variables. The adjusted odds ratio with their 95% CI was used to show the strength of association. p Value <20% whereas telecommunication and television/Radio contributes the largest 56.1% and 85.8% as a source of information respectively. Internet as a source of information AOR: 1.99 (CI: 1.05–3.78, p =.034), information from health worker AOR: 2.324 (CI: 1.228–4.397, p =.010) and information from television or radio AOR: 2.737 (CI: 1.471–5.092, p =.001) has been significantly associated with good knowledge with p value