Trends in the population knowledge, attitudes and practices toward COVID-19 in the Buea municipality two months after the onset of the pandemic in Cameroon

INTRODUCTION: Two months into the COVID-19 pandemic in Cameroon, we assess the trend in the knowledge, attitude and practices of the population with the progression of the disease and the implementation of preventiveMETHODS: put in place by the government of Cameroon and health partners organizations in response to the pandemic. Methods: this was a cross-sectional study conducted in selected health areas in the Buea municipality. A questionnaire was administered at the onset and two months later to collect data on the participants’ knowledge, attitude and practices towards COVID-19. The data were analyzed in SPSS version 25. RESULTS: a total of 480 and 680 participans were sampled at onset and two months later respectivelly. Of the 26 indicators of knowledge assessed, 22 (84.61%) showed significant increase (p=0.05) with the most significant changes observed with the symptoms, mode of transmission and prevention of the disease. The overall proportion of people with correct knowledge moved from 9.1% at onset to 41.4% two months after. Only 1.5% of participants had poor knowledge of the pandemic two months after against 14.2% at the onset. There was a significant (p=0.05) positive change in the population perception, attitude and practices toward COVID-19 two months after the onset of the pandemic. CONCLUSION: the population knowledge, attitude and practices on COVID-19 showed a positive trend two months after the onset of the pandemic. The implementation of government and health stakeholder preventive measures together with the incidence of the pandemic in Cameroon probably had a positive impact on the positive trend observed. There is a need for continuous sensitization to completely fill the knowledge gap of the population on COVID-19.

Abstract licence: CC BY

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