ASSESSMENT OF KNOWLEDGE, PERCEPTION AND PREVENTIVE MEASURES OF COVID-19 AMONG UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA

Abstract

The battle against Covid-19 is still continuing globally. To guarantee the final success, people's adherence to these control measures is essential, which is largely affected by their knowledge, perception, and practices towards Covid-19. Hence the study assessed the knowledge, perception and preventive measures of Covid-19 among undergraduate students. The study adopted a descriptive survey conducted on an online platform using a google form, a cloud base system data collector that allows big data. The target population for this study consisted of undergraduates from three universities in Southwest, Nigeria. The sample size was 384 and the respondents were stratified into different strata of sex, age at last birthday, religion, ethnicity and class level.  From the study it was found that a great majority seemed to be very knowledgeable about the subject of Covid-19, though a significantly high number held some misconception about Covid-19. In terms of perception, majority of the respondents had an average perception of Covid-19. Considering the notion that the Coronavirus can be killed in hot regions, majority (51%) did not support it, though an almost equal number (49%) responded in the affirmative. It was also found from the study that the preventive measures practiced were decent enough.  It was therefore recommended that there is need for publicity especially at the grassroots’ level (rural community) to enlighten people about what Covid-19 is, inorder to correct the myths about the disease.