Table 1. Summary characteristics of the included studies.
| Author and year | Study setting (Country) | Study design | Population (n) | Mean/ Age range of participants | Percentage (%) of males | Percentage (%) of females | Knowledge related to COVID-19 | Attitude/Perception towards COVID-19 | Practice towards COVID-19 | Relevant findings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adela et al and 2020 [45] | Cameroon | Cross-sectional survey | 1006 participants | 33 | 46.9% | 53.1% | The participants had a high overall knowledge score of 84.19% | The overall score was 69% for attitude | The overall score was 60.8% for practice towards COVID-19 | There was high knowledge and perception of COVID-19 disease transmission |
| Adhena and Hidru and 2020 [29] | Ethiopia | Cross-sectional study | 419 participants | 69.5 | 51.3% | 48.7% | About 37.7% of participants had poor knowledge | About 43.4% of participants had a negative attitude towards COVID-19 | About 52.5% of the participants had poor practice towards COVID-19 | The overall KAP regarding COVID-19 prevention and control was shown to be poor |
| Akalu et al and 2020 [10] | Ethiopia | Cross-sectional study | 404 participants | 56.5 | 60.9% | 39.1% | Poor knowledge was reported in 33.9% of the participants | About 36.1% of the study participants were of the perception that they have a moderate risk of COVID-19 infection | 47.3% of the chronic disease patients had poor practices | Most participants revealed poor knowledge and poor practice |
| Anikwe et al and 2020 [37] | Nigeria | Cross‐sectional survey | 430 participants | 30.04 | N/A | 100% | Most of the women showed adequate knowledge about COVID‐19 infection | Majority of participants showed a good attitude towards COVID-19 | Majority of the women had good preventive practice towards COVID-19 disease | The study population (pregnant women) had good KAP towards COVID‐19 disease |
| Asemahagn and 2020 [30] | Ethiopia | Cross-sectional survey | 398 participants | 34 | 58.0% | 42.0% | This study reported that 70% of the Healthcare workers had good COVID-19 related knowledge | N/A | Study findings revealed that 62% of the Healthcare workers had good COVID-19 preventive practice | Majority of the Healthcare workers reported good knowledge of COVID-19 but had lower preventive practice |
| Asmelash et al and 2020 [31] | Ethiopia | Cross-sectional study | 410 participants | 47 | 92.4% | 7.6% | Of the total participants, 60.7% had good knowledge | Of the total participants, 34.1% showed a positive attitude towards COVID-19 | Few of the study participants (15.6%) had good preventive practices towards COVID-19. | Most of the participants had negative attitudes and poor practice towards COVID-19. |
| Girma et al and 2020 [32] | Ethiopia | A Web-Based Survey | 273 participants | 31.03 | 89% | 11% | All participants in the study correctly answered all preventive knowledge questions | N/A | Participants had low mean scores for precautionary behavior questions such as wearing a mask and wearing gloves and the highest score for avoiding people who are sneezing or coughing | There was a substantial gap in the knowledge level and execution of behavioral practice, particularly wearing masks and gloves. |
| Haftom et al and 2020 [33] | Ethiopia | Cross-sectional study | 331 participants | 30.5 | 69.5% | 30.5% | Below half (42.9%) of the participants were knowledgeable about COVID-19 | About one-third of the participants responded that the Ethiopian government is handling the COVID-19 pandemic crisis well | Low report of any practices related to COVID-19 | A significant number of participants lacked knowledge and poorly adhered to COVID-19 prevention strategies |
| Iradukunda and 2020 [49] | Rwanda | Cross-sectional study | 376 participants | 38 | 44% | 56% | A high percentage of the participants, (n = 363, 97%) got a high knowledge score | Over one-quarter of the study participants (26%) had a poor attitude score | Most participants (90%) had a high practice score | The study findings showed a high knowledge and practice score towards COVID-19 and a poor attitude score |
| Kassie et al and 2020 [34] | Ethiopia | Cross-sectional study | 408 participants | 30.33 | 67.3% | 32.7% | The participants with good Knowledge constituted 73.8% | Almost two-thirds (65.7%) of the healthcare providers showed positive attitude towards COVID-19 | N/A | The health care providers had good COVID-19 related knowledge and attitude. |
| Kebede et al and 2020 [12] | Ethiopia | Cross-sectional study | 247 participants | 30.5 | 76.5% | 23.5% | Overall, the proportion of visitors with high knowledge was 41.3% | Majority of the visitors felt self-efficacious in controlling COVID-19 (68.8%) while 83.3% believed that COVID-19 is a stigmatized disease | The main practices observed by the visitors were frequent washing of hands (77.3%) and avoidance of shaking hands (53.8%). | The visitors had moderate knowledge, perceived self-efficacy in controlling COVID-19 and preventive practices against the contagious virus |
| Carsi et al and 2020 [51] | Democratic Republic of Congo | Cross-sectional study | 347 participants | 37.4 | 17% | 83% | Less than one-third of the respondents (30%) had correct COVID-19 knowledge | This survey indicates that most of the participants (88%) did not agree that the COVID-19 situation would be under control and defeated in the DRC |
Most participants did not engage in handwashing, wearing of facemasks and social distancing | Preventive practices were seldom in place |
| Mandaah et al and 2020 [46] | Cameroon | Cross-sectional study | A total of 480 and 680 participants were sampled at onset and two months later respectively | 20–29 years | Onset-23.2% Two months after- 32.0% | Onset- 18.2% Two months after- 26.6% | The overall proportion of people with correct knowledge moved from 9.1% at onset to 41.4% after two months | Overall, there was a positive change in the attitude of the people towards COVID-19 as the disease progressed | The participants’ practices with regards to COVID-19 showed some improvement two months after the pandemic started | There was positive change in the KAP of the population regarding COVID-19 two months after the start of the pandemic |
| Mbachu et al and 2020 [38] | Nigeria | Cross-sectional study | 403 participants | 36.69 | 45.7% | 54.3% | Three hundred and fifty-seven (88.59%) of the participants had good knowledge of COVID-19 | A substantial proportion of the healthcare workers had either poor (n = 101, 25.06%) or indifferent attitude to work (n = 233, 57.82%) in the COVID-19 era | Three hundred and twenty-eight HCWs (81.39%) had a high level of practice towards preventing COVID-19 infection | Good knowledge which influenced practice and high level of practice of preventive measures, with associated poor attitude was observed among the healthcare workers |
| Mousa et al and 2020 [52] | Sudan | Cross-sectional study | 2336 participants | 18 and 29 years | 39.3% | 60.7% | The participants’ mean knowledge score was 84.7%. | Most of the participants (94.8%) were willing to commit to staying at home | A large percentage of the participants (92%) frequently washed their hands or used antiseptic | Participants who were young, and especially females, had good knowledge, hopeful attitudes, and acceptable practices towards COVID-19 |
| Nicholas et al and 2020 [47] | Cameroon | Cross-sectional study | 480 participants | 18 years and above | 56.0% | 44.0% | Of the 545 study participants, 21.9% had a correct COVID-19 knowledge | The population generally had a good attitude towards COVID-19 disease | At least one preventive measure of the disease was known to all the participants, but the number of preventive measures known differed from one participant to another | There is a gap in the knowledge about COVID-19 among the Buea population |
| Nkansah et al and 2020 [50] | Ghana | Cross-sectional study | 261 participants | 32.0 | 50.6% | 49.4% | About two-thirds of the healthcare workers (65.1%) had adequate knowledge about COVID-19 | N/A | Generally, 57.5% of the participants practiced precautionary behaviour adequately | The healthcare workers had encouraging knowledge, practice and willingness to handle COVID-19 |
| Nwonwu et al and 2020 [39] | Nigeria | Cross-sectional study | 320 participants | 41.6 | 52.5% | 47.5% | Majority of the respondents (n = 256, 80.0%) had good COVID-19 knowledge | N/A | Only 133 (41.6%) of the respondents had good preventive practices | Despite the good knowledge of COVID-19 by the respondents, preventive measures against the disease were generally poor |
| Ogolodom et al and 2020 [40] | Nigeria | Descriptive study | 300 participants | 33.6 | 42.7% | 57.3% | Most of the healthcare workers, 168 (56%) were highly aware of the pandemic | Most of the participants 183 (61%) felt they were at risk of being infected by the virus. | N/A | The health care workers are highly aware of the etiology, mode of transmission and symptoms of coronavirus disease |
| Ojo et al and 2020 [41] | Nigeria | Cross—sectional survey | 127 participants | 28.1 | 46% | 54% | The results revealed that 87.5% of the 127 respondents had good COVID-19 knowledge | The result on attitude showed that most of the respondents (93.6%) had a positive attitude pertaining to COVID-19 prevention | N/A | Majority of the healthcare workers demonstrated good knowledge, attitude and willingness towards COVID-19 preventive measure |
| Okoro et al and 2020 [42] | Nigeria | An interventional study with a pre- and post-test assessment | (Pretest) 141 participants (Posttest) 134 Participants | 39.28 | 78.7% | 21.3% | This study revealed a high overall knowledge about the disease among the participants | In general, study participants had a positive attitude related to COVID-19 | This study found an overall high level of preventive practice towards the disease. | The study revealed a high knowledge level, practices and attitude among correctional officers towards COVID-19 |
| Olum et al and 2020 [9] | Uganda | Cross sectional study | 136 participants | 32 | 64% | 36% | Overall, 69% of the healthcare workers had sufficient COVID-19 knowledge | Few of the healthcare workers (21%) reported a positive attitude with respect to COVID-19 | Overall, 74% had good practices regarding COVID-19 | Over two-thirds of the healthcare workers had sufficient knowledge on the diagnosis, transmission, and prevention of COVID-19 |
| Olum et al and 2020 [48] | Uganda | Cross-sectional study | 741 participants | 24 | 63% | 37% | Overall, 91% of the study participants had good knowledge | Overall, 74% had a positive attitude towards COVID-19 | Overall, 57% had good practices towards COVID-19 | The medical students had sufficient COVID-19- related knowledge and majority reported willingness to engage in the frontline health care response when required |
| Reuben et al and 2020 [43] | Nigeria | Cross-sectional survey | 589 participants | 18–39 years | 59.6% | 40.4% | Most of the respondents (99.5%) had good COVID-19 knowledge | Most respondents (79.5%) showed positive attitudes towards adherence to the government’s infection prevention and control (IPC) measures | Majority of the respondents (82.3%) practiced self-isolation/social distancing, used facemask, and improved personal hygiene | The participants in this study had good knowledge and attitudes regarding COVID-19 |
| Sengeh et al and 2020 [53] | Sierra Leone | Cross-sectional survey | 1253 participants | 18 and 39 years old | 52% | 48% | There was high awareness about the novel coronavirus, with 91% indicating that they had heard of COVID-19 | Seventy- five per cent of the respondents felt they were at moderate or high risk of contracting coronavirus in the next 6 months, although response differed widely across regions | A little over half of the respondents reported that they had taken action to prevent COVID-19 infection | The study showed that while COVID-19 awareness and risk perception was high, most respondents do not know that it is possible to survive COVID-19. |
| Tamire and Legesse and 2020 [35] | Ethiopia | Cross-sectional survey | 526 participants | 32.5 | 46.2% | 53.8% | Most of the health care professionals scored above 87.1% for the knowledge questions | Majority of the health care professionals (74.9%) had good attitude that covid-19 will be controlled successfully | This study found that the practice of prevention methods was not satisfactory | The study result showed that there was a huge knowledge gap on the asymptomatic transmission of the disease |
| Tesfaye et al and 2020 [36] | Ethiopia | Cross-sectional survey | 295 participants | 32.2 | 51.5% | 48.5% | Over half of the participants (53.2%) had adequate COVID-19 knowledge | A large proportion of the participants (89.8%) had a positive attitude towards the value of following the WHO guidelines to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 | Many of the study participants (97.3%) engaged in hand washing, which is one of the WHO recommended preventive measures | The findings showed that study participants had a high level of knowledge on different aspects of COVID-19 |
| Umeizudike et al and 2020 [44] | Nigeria | Cross-sectional study | 102 participants | 25.3 | 54.9% | 45.1% | Half of the students (50%) had adequate COVID-19 knowledge | Most of the students (95.1%) had positive attitudes regarding COVID-19 infection control practices | N/A | The overall knowledge of the students regarding COVID-19 was less than adequate although they had positive attitudes towards COVID-19 infection control practices |