Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of High-Risk Age Groups to Coronavirus Disease-19 Prevention and Control in Korem District, Tigray, Ethiopia: Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND: The emerging of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China, since the time declared as a public health emergency of international concern, its impact on the lives of people is negatively substantial. Despite the vulnerability of all ages from the pandemic, evidence showed that elder people are at high-risk for adverse outcomes from coronavirus disease-19. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of high-risk age groups to coronavirus disease-19 prevention and control in Korem district, Tigray, Ethiopia. METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among high-risk age groups from April 2 to May 9/2020 in Korem district, Tigray, Ethiopia. A total of 422 study participants were selected using a simple random sampling technique. The collected data were entered into Epi-data version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 22.0 for analysis. Multivariable analysis was done using linear regression after checking collinearity, and a p-value of less than 0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: A total of 419 study participants were included in the study with a response rate of 99.3%. Overall, about 37.7%, 43.4%, and 52.5% of participants had poor knowledge, negative attitude, and poor practice towards coronavirus disease-19 prevention and control, respectively. Being elder (≥80) years, with no formal education, and having low-income status were among the significantly associated factors. About 76.1% of the respondents did not use hand-rub-based alcohol or sanitizer, and 88.8% did not use any mask in crowding area. CONCLUSION: Generally, the knowledge about coronavirus disease-19 in elders was roughly appropriate but the preventive practices and attitude towards coronavirus disease-19 were found less and inappropriate. Since no proven medicine is invented yet, so maximizing knowledge, increasing behavioral change, and strengthening preventive practices towards coronavirus disease-19 prevention and control is the appropriate solution.