Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Regarding COVID-19 among Healthcare Workers in Uganda: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Kamacooko, Onesmus; Kitonsa, Jonathan; Bahemuka, Ubaldo M.; Kibengo, Freddie M.; Wajja, Anne; Basajja, Vincent; Lumala, Alfred; Kakande, Ayoub; Kafeero, Paddy; Ssemwanga, Edward; Asaba, Robert; Mugisha, Joseph; Pierce, Benjamin F.; Shattock, Robin J.; Kaleebu, Pontiano; Ruzagira, Eugene

Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at high risk of COVID-19. However, data on HCWs’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) toward COVID-19 are limited. Between September and November 2020, we conducted a questionnaire-based COVID-19 KAP survey among HCWs at three hospitals in Uganda. We used Bloom’s cut-off of ≥80% to determine sufficient knowledge, good attitude, and good practice, and multivariate Poisson regression with robust variance for statistical analysis. Of 717 HCWs invited to participate, 657 (91.6%) agreed and were enrolled. The mean age (standard deviation) of enrollees was 33.2 (10.2) years; most were clinical HCWs (64.7%) and had advanced secondary school/other higher-level education (57.8%). Overall, 83.9% had sufficient knowledge, 78.4% had a positive attitude, and 37.0% had good practices toward COVID-19. Factors associated with KAP were: Knowledge: being a clinical HCW (aRR: 1.12; 95% CI: 1.02–1.23) and previous participation in health research (aRR: 1.10; 95% CI: 1.04–1.17); Attitude: age > 35 years (aRR: 0.88; 95% CI: 0.79–0.98); Practice: being a clinical HCW (aRR: 1.91; 95% CI: 1.41–2.59). HCWs in Uganda have good knowledge and positive attitude but poor practices towards COVID-19. Differences in COVID-19 KAP between clinical and non-clinical HCWs could affect uptake of COVID-19 interventions including vaccination.