Knowledge, risk-perception, and uptake of COVID-19 prevention measures in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has almost affected the entire globe and is currently in a resurgent phase within the sub-Saharan African region. OBJECTIVE: This paper presents results from a scoping review of literature on knowledge, risk-perception, conspiracy theories and uptake of COVID-19 prevention measures in sub-Saharan Africa. METHODS: We used the following search terms: ‘COVID-19’, ‘knowledge’, ‘perceptions’, ‘perspectives’, ‘misconceptions’, ‘conspiracy theories’, ‘practices’ and ‘sub-Saharan Africa’. Basing on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines, we identified 466 articles for review; 36 articles met the inclusion criteria. We extracted data on knowledge, risk-perception, conspiracy theories and uptake of COVID-19 primary prevention measures. RESULTS: Knowledge of COVID-19 was high (91.3–100%) and associated with age and education; risk-perception was equally high (73.3–86.9%) but varied across studies. Uptake of hand-washing with water and soap or hand-sanitizing ranged between 63–96.4%, but wearing of face masks and social distancing fared poorly (face masks: 2.7%–37%; social distancing: 19–43%). CONCLUSION: While knowledge of COVID-19 is nearly universal, uptake of COVID-19 prevention measures remains sub-optimal to defeat the pandemic. These findings suggest a need for continued health promotion to increase uptake of the recommended COVID-19 prevention measures in sub-Saharan Africa.