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. 2021 Apr 13:14:1491-1497.
doi: 10.2147/RMHP.S308039. eCollection 2021.

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of Medical Students Regarding COVID-19 in Afghanistan: A Cross-Sectional Study

Arash Nemat  1   2 , Nahid Raufi  3   4 , Mohammad Faiq Sediqi  5 , Aziz Rahman Rasib  6 , Abdullah Asady  1
Affiliations

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of Medical Students Regarding COVID-19 in Afghanistan: A Cross-Sectional Study

Arash Nemat et al. Risk Manag Healthc Policy. .

Abstract

Background: The coronavirus pandemic has had devastating effects on many nations, including Afghanistan. Public awareness and following recommendations play an important part in managing such a large-scale crisis, which are affected largely by knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP). Medical students can act as reliable sources of information for the public in such a scenario. This study aimed to investigate KAP of medical students regarding COVID-19.

Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted in October 2020 among medical students in Afghanistan, Kabul University of Medical Sciences. Information on sociodemographics and KAP, was collected using a web-based questionnaire.

Results: A total of 1,169 medical students completed the survey. More than half were female (54.6%), a majority (95%) aged ≥20 years, and more than half (56.2%) lived in the city of Kabul. Overall, students had acceptable KAP regarding COVID-19, except for a few undesirable responses with regard to the risks of close contact with COVID-19 patients, incubation periods, and groups vulnerable to COVID-19.

Conclusion: Overall, the students had acceptable KAP regarding COVID-19, except for the few undesired aforementioned responses, which need more focus during awareness campaigns in future.

Keywords: SARS-COV2; pandemic; public health; surveys and questionnaires.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest for this work and that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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