Knowledge and perception of covid-19 among health workers in Nepal.

Thesis Report.

SUMMARY: Coronavirus disease (COVID 19) causes enormous deaths and threatens world populations' lives and health. Thousands of healthcare workers died and millions of them tested positive. The fragile health care system can have a long-lasting impact on developing countries. The study was aimed to determine knowledge and perception of novel coronavirus disease among frontlines health care workers in Nepal. A web-based online survey was conducted on health care workers working in Nepal. The questionnaire consists of socio-demographic characteristics, source of knowledge, knowledge and perception of COVID-19. The survey questions were designed using Google form. This data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science version 26.0. A chi-square test was used to investigate the level of association among variables, with significance set to P <0.05. A total of 285 health professionals participated (Males=144, Females=141) in this study. The mean (± SD) age of participants was 27.21 ± 5.42, and most were doctors(n=73,25.6%) and lab technician (n=68, 23.9%). More than half of participants (n=164,57.5%) were working in the private sector. The main sources for COVID-19 information were social media (144, 50.5%) and News media (115, 40.3%). A significant proportion of HCWs had poor knowledge of its transmission (n=170, 59.6%) and an incubation (n=129, 45.3%) and showed positive perceptions of COVID-19. There was a significant gap in knowledge and perception, particularly during the transmission and incubation period. The government and the Nepalese Ministry of Health must recognize the causes of an increased lack of knowledge.