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Mozambican Adolescents and Youths during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Knowledge and Awareness Gaps in the Provinces of Sofala and Tete

(1) Background: Mozambique has an average population age of 17 years and adolescents and youths have a pivotal role in SARS-CoV-2 pandemic control. (2) Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study in order to assess the awareness and information needs with regard to COVID-19 among a sample of adole...

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Autores principales: Marotta, Claudia, Nacareia, Ussene, Estevez, Alba Sardon, Tognon, Francesca, Genna, Giselle Daiana, De Meneghi, Giovanna, Occa, Edoardo, Ramirez, Lucy, Lazzari, Marzia, Di Gennaro, Francesco, Putoto, Giovanni
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7998514/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33805689
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9030321
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author Marotta, Claudia
Nacareia, Ussene
Estevez, Alba Sardon
Tognon, Francesca
Genna, Giselle Daiana
De Meneghi, Giovanna
Occa, Edoardo
Ramirez, Lucy
Lazzari, Marzia
Di Gennaro, Francesco
Putoto, Giovanni
author_facet Marotta, Claudia
Nacareia, Ussene
Estevez, Alba Sardon
Tognon, Francesca
Genna, Giselle Daiana
De Meneghi, Giovanna
Occa, Edoardo
Ramirez, Lucy
Lazzari, Marzia
Di Gennaro, Francesco
Putoto, Giovanni
author_sort Marotta, Claudia
collection PubMed
description (1) Background: Mozambique has an average population age of 17 years and adolescents and youths have a pivotal role in SARS-CoV-2 pandemic control. (2) Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study in order to assess the awareness and information needs with regard to COVID-19 among a sample of adolescents and youths from two different Mozambican provinces. (3) Results: Only 25% of adolescents and youths had a high level of awareness and only 543/2170 participants reported a high level of knowledge regarding COVID-19. In our multivariate model, significant predictors of reporting a high level of knowledge about COVID-19 include female sex (O.R. = 1.47; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.23–2.89), having a house without a thatched roof (O.R. = 1.85; 95% CI 1.02–2.95) and HIV-positive status (O.R. = 1.56; 95% CI 1.36–2.87). (4) Conclusions: Our study highlights an important and relevant knowledge gap in adolescents and youths with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic. Involving young people and adolescents in the fight against SARS-CoV-2 is an essential strategy, especially in countries where the national average age is young, such as Mozambique, and where this epidemic can aggravate an already fragile health system.
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spelling pubmed-79985142021-03-28 Mozambican Adolescents and Youths during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Knowledge and Awareness Gaps in the Provinces of Sofala and Tete Marotta, Claudia Nacareia, Ussene Estevez, Alba Sardon Tognon, Francesca Genna, Giselle Daiana De Meneghi, Giovanna Occa, Edoardo Ramirez, Lucy Lazzari, Marzia Di Gennaro, Francesco Putoto, Giovanni Healthcare (Basel) Article (1) Background: Mozambique has an average population age of 17 years and adolescents and youths have a pivotal role in SARS-CoV-2 pandemic control. (2) Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study in order to assess the awareness and information needs with regard to COVID-19 among a sample of adolescents and youths from two different Mozambican provinces. (3) Results: Only 25% of adolescents and youths had a high level of awareness and only 543/2170 participants reported a high level of knowledge regarding COVID-19. In our multivariate model, significant predictors of reporting a high level of knowledge about COVID-19 include female sex (O.R. = 1.47; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.23–2.89), having a house without a thatched roof (O.R. = 1.85; 95% CI 1.02–2.95) and HIV-positive status (O.R. = 1.56; 95% CI 1.36–2.87). (4) Conclusions: Our study highlights an important and relevant knowledge gap in adolescents and youths with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic. Involving young people and adolescents in the fight against SARS-CoV-2 is an essential strategy, especially in countries where the national average age is young, such as Mozambique, and where this epidemic can aggravate an already fragile health system. MDPI 2021-03-13 /pmc/articles/PMC7998514/ /pubmed/33805689 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9030321 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) ).
spellingShingle Article
Marotta, Claudia
Nacareia, Ussene
Estevez, Alba Sardon
Tognon, Francesca
Genna, Giselle Daiana
De Meneghi, Giovanna
Occa, Edoardo
Ramirez, Lucy
Lazzari, Marzia
Di Gennaro, Francesco
Putoto, Giovanni
Mozambican Adolescents and Youths during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Knowledge and Awareness Gaps in the Provinces of Sofala and Tete
title Mozambican Adolescents and Youths during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Knowledge and Awareness Gaps in the Provinces of Sofala and Tete
title_full Mozambican Adolescents and Youths during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Knowledge and Awareness Gaps in the Provinces of Sofala and Tete
title_fullStr Mozambican Adolescents and Youths during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Knowledge and Awareness Gaps in the Provinces of Sofala and Tete
title_full_unstemmed Mozambican Adolescents and Youths during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Knowledge and Awareness Gaps in the Provinces of Sofala and Tete
title_short Mozambican Adolescents and Youths during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Knowledge and Awareness Gaps in the Provinces of Sofala and Tete
title_sort mozambican adolescents and youths during the covid-19 pandemic: knowledge and awareness gaps in the provinces of sofala and tete
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7998514/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33805689
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9030321
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