Knowledge and Practice to Prevent Against Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) and Its Associated Factors Among Pregnant Women in Debre Tabor Town Northwest Ethiopia: a Community Based Cross-Sectional Study.
Abstract Background: The current corona virus disease (COVID-19) is now become the global concerns and declared as a pandemic by World Health Organization on March 2020. To date, no antiviral treatment or vaccine has been explicitly recommended for COVID-19. So, applying preventive measures to control COVID-19 infection is the most critical intervention. Pregnant women are particularly susceptible to respiratory pathogens and severe pneumonia, because they are at immunosuppressive state and physiological adaptive change during pregnancy. As the same time the determinants of knowledge and practice to prevent COVID-19 among pregnant women, who constitute vulnerable groups, are yet to be evaluated. This study was therefore designed to assess knowledge and practice of preventive measures against corona virus disease and its associated factors among pregnant women in Debre Tabor Town. Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted among 422 pregnant women from May 25-June 15, 2020. Simple random sampling technique was employed. Data was collected by face to face interview using structured and pre-tested questionnaire. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 23. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analysis was carried out and p-value < 0.05 at 95% CI were considered as statistically significant. Result: A total of 422 participants were included with response rate of 95.9%. The mean age was 27.15 (SD± 4.719) years. About 46.8% and 47.6 % of women were knowledgeable and had good practice against corona virus respectively. The predictor for knowledge were age(15-24)( AOR=4.85, 95% CI: 1.34-5.42), educational status(AOR:3.70; 95% CI: 1.16-5.40) being civil servant (AOR:2.84; 95% CI: 1.55-5.21), wanted pregnancy(AOR:3.37; 95% CI: 1.20-9.45), antenatal care follow-up(AOR:2.07; 95% CI: 1.03-4.13), whereas educational status (AOR:3.78; 95% CI: 1.19-5.11), number of children (AOR:2.89; 95% CI: 1.29-6.45) and knowledge (AOR:8.42;95% CI: 4.50-15.85), were also the predictors for practice. Conclusion: This study showed that most of the participants had poor knowledge and inappropriate practice. As per finding increasing health education program via different medias, coordinated and combined efforts of authorities and all individuals will be needed to battles the spread of the pandemic.