Knowledge, Perceptions and Practices of COVID19 Among the Cameroonian Population
Background: COVID19 is an emerging infectious disease that has spread all over the world and became a pandemic. Cameroon is the 7th most affected country in Africa, with most of the cases in metropoles. The main objective was to assess the knowledge, perceptions and practices of the Cameroonian pop...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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PAGEPress Publications
2024-02-01
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| Series: | Journal of Public Health in Africa |
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| Online Access: | http://publichealthinafrica.org/jphia/article/view/2718 |
| _version_ | 1797293875184795648 |
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| author | Sylvain Raoul SIMENI NJONNOU Esther Astrid Mbono Samba Eloumba Edwige Laure MENDO Raissa Manuela EWALA MBOULE Anne Juliette Flore SANGO Fernando KEPTA LEKPA Marie-Josiane NTSAMA ESSOMBA Eric BALTI Christian NGONGANG OUANKOU Justin DJOTAH Martin SANOU SOBZE Simeon Pierre CHOUKEM |
| author_facet | Sylvain Raoul SIMENI NJONNOU Esther Astrid Mbono Samba Eloumba Edwige Laure MENDO Raissa Manuela EWALA MBOULE Anne Juliette Flore SANGO Fernando KEPTA LEKPA Marie-Josiane NTSAMA ESSOMBA Eric BALTI Christian NGONGANG OUANKOU Justin DJOTAH Martin SANOU SOBZE Simeon Pierre CHOUKEM |
| author_sort | Sylvain Raoul SIMENI NJONNOU |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
Background: COVID19 is an emerging infectious disease that has spread all over the world and became a pandemic. Cameroon is the 7th most affected country in Africa, with most of the cases in metropoles. The main objective was to assess the knowledge, perceptions and practices of the Cameroonian populations about COVID19 infection.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from May 15th to July 15th, 2020; targeting all Cameroonians over 15 years old living in Cameroon. A standard Google Forms® questionnaire was submitted via social media (WhatsApp and Facebook particularly). The sampling was consecutive and not exhaustive. The data were processed on Excel 2016 and analyzed through EPI info 3.5. The questionnaire included knowledge, perceptions and practices about the disease's existence, its functional signs, prevention and control. Knowledge, perceptions and practices were considered good for a response score ≥ 75% and poor for a score ≤ 25%. Intermediate scores were considered average and insufficient. Univariate and multivariate analyzes were performed to identify the factors associated with a significance level (p <0.05).
Results: Of the 996 (507 males) participants, the median age was 26 ± 8 years. Health workers represented 20.8% of participants. A large proportion of the population (78.6%) had good knowledge, while more than half (56.5%) had good perceptions, but only (23.1%) had good practices. Having reached higher education (p = 0.007), and being a health worker (p = 0.0008) were associated with a good level of knowledge. High school education (p = 0.040) and being a health worker (p = 0.049) were associated with positive perceptions. Being employed (p = 0.003) and having secondary education level (p = 0.033) were associated with good practices.
Conclusion: Knowledge and perceptions were good among the study population, but the practice level is still insufficient to effectively fight the COVID19 pandemic. Educational level, being employed or being healthcare workers were associated with good knowledge, perceptions and practices.
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| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T21:22:09Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-98a203eb0f3e4f308da7c5d3fa00b2e7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2038-9922 2038-9930 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T21:22:09Z |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
| publisher | PAGEPress Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Public Health in Africa |
| spelling | doaj.art-98a203eb0f3e4f308da7c5d3fa00b2e72024-02-27T10:48:36ZengPAGEPress PublicationsJournal of Public Health in Africa2038-99222038-99302024-02-01141210.4081/jphia.2023.2718Knowledge, Perceptions and Practices of COVID19 Among the Cameroonian PopulationSylvain Raoul SIMENI NJONNOU0Esther Astrid Mbono Samba Eloumba 1Edwige Laure MENDO2Raissa Manuela EWALA MBOULE3Anne Juliette Flore SANGO4Fernando KEPTA LEKPA5Marie-Josiane NTSAMA ESSOMBA6Eric BALTI7Christian NGONGANG OUANKOU8Justin DJOTAH9Martin SANOU SOBZE10Simeon Pierre CHOUKEM11University of DschangDepartment of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Yaounde, Came-roon Yaounde Central Hospital, Yaounde, CameroonDepartment of Internal Medicine and Specialties, Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Yaounde I, Yaounde, Cameroon Ebolowa Regional Hospital, Ebolowa, CameroonDepartment of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Dschang, Dschang, CameroonYaounde Central Hospital, Yaounde, Cameroon Department of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Faculty of Health Sciences, Medicine and Bi-omedical Sciences, University of Buea, Buea, CameroonDepartment of Internal Medicine and Specialties, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sci-ences, Dschang 96, Cameroon The University of Dschang Taskforce for the Elimination of COVID19 (UNITED#COVID19 ), Dschang, Cameroon Department of Internal Medicine, Douala General Hospital, Douala, CameroonYaounde Central Hospital, Yaounde, Cameroon, Department of Internal Medicine and Specialties, Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Yaounde I, Yaounde, CameroonDepartment of Internal Medicine and Specialties, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sci-ences, Dschang 96, Cameroon The University of Dschang Taskforce for the Elimination of COVID19 (UNITED#COVID19 ), Dschang, Cameroon Diabetes Research Center and Department of Internal Medicine, Universiteit Ziekenhuis Brus-sel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, BelgiumDepartment of Internal Medicine and Specialties, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sci-ences, Dschang 96, Cameroon The University of Dschang Taskforce for the Elimination of COVID19 (UNITED#COVID19 ), Dschang, Cameroon Department of Internal Medicine, Yaounde Teaching Hospital, Yaounde, CameroonCenter for Research and Doctoral Training in Human, Social and Educational Sciences, Uni-versity of Yaoundé I International Handicap Federation, Central African Republic Mission, Mental Health and Psy-chosocial Support DepartmentDepartment of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Dschang, Dschang, Cameroon The University of Dschang Taskforce for the Elimination of COVID19 (UNITED#COVID19 ), Dschang, Cameroon Department of Internal Medicine and Specialties, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sci-ences, Dschang 96, Cameroon The University of Dschang Taskforce for the Elimination of COVID19 (UNITED#COVID19), Dschang, Cameroon Department of Internal Medicine, Douala General Hospital, Douala, Cameroon Health and Human Development (2HD) Research Network, Douala, Cameroon Background: COVID19 is an emerging infectious disease that has spread all over the world and became a pandemic. Cameroon is the 7th most affected country in Africa, with most of the cases in metropoles. The main objective was to assess the knowledge, perceptions and practices of the Cameroonian populations about COVID19 infection. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from May 15th to July 15th, 2020; targeting all Cameroonians over 15 years old living in Cameroon. A standard Google Forms® questionnaire was submitted via social media (WhatsApp and Facebook particularly). The sampling was consecutive and not exhaustive. The data were processed on Excel 2016 and analyzed through EPI info 3.5. The questionnaire included knowledge, perceptions and practices about the disease's existence, its functional signs, prevention and control. Knowledge, perceptions and practices were considered good for a response score ≥ 75% and poor for a score ≤ 25%. Intermediate scores were considered average and insufficient. Univariate and multivariate analyzes were performed to identify the factors associated with a significance level (p <0.05). Results: Of the 996 (507 males) participants, the median age was 26 ± 8 years. Health workers represented 20.8% of participants. A large proportion of the population (78.6%) had good knowledge, while more than half (56.5%) had good perceptions, but only (23.1%) had good practices. Having reached higher education (p = 0.007), and being a health worker (p = 0.0008) were associated with a good level of knowledge. High school education (p = 0.040) and being a health worker (p = 0.049) were associated with positive perceptions. Being employed (p = 0.003) and having secondary education level (p = 0.033) were associated with good practices. Conclusion: Knowledge and perceptions were good among the study population, but the practice level is still insufficient to effectively fight the COVID19 pandemic. Educational level, being employed or being healthcare workers were associated with good knowledge, perceptions and practices. http://publichealthinafrica.org/jphia/article/view/2718KnowledgePerceptionspracticesCOVID19Cameroon |
| spellingShingle | Sylvain Raoul SIMENI NJONNOU Esther Astrid Mbono Samba Eloumba Edwige Laure MENDO Raissa Manuela EWALA MBOULE Anne Juliette Flore SANGO Fernando KEPTA LEKPA Marie-Josiane NTSAMA ESSOMBA Eric BALTI Christian NGONGANG OUANKOU Justin DJOTAH Martin SANOU SOBZE Simeon Pierre CHOUKEM Knowledge, Perceptions and Practices of COVID19 Among the Cameroonian Population Journal of Public Health in Africa Knowledge Perceptions practices COVID19 Cameroon |
| title | Knowledge, Perceptions and Practices of COVID19 Among the Cameroonian Population |
| title_full | Knowledge, Perceptions and Practices of COVID19 Among the Cameroonian Population |
| title_fullStr | Knowledge, Perceptions and Practices of COVID19 Among the Cameroonian Population |
| title_full_unstemmed | Knowledge, Perceptions and Practices of COVID19 Among the Cameroonian Population |
| title_short | Knowledge, Perceptions and Practices of COVID19 Among the Cameroonian Population |
| title_sort | knowledge perceptions and practices of covid19 among the cameroonian population |
| topic | Knowledge Perceptions practices COVID19 Cameroon |
| url | http://publichealthinafrica.org/jphia/article/view/2718 |
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