Abstract:
Background: Coronavirus has spread to almost every country since its emergence in
Wuhan, China and countries have been adopted an array ofmeasures to control the rapid
spread of the epidemic. Here, we aimed to assess the person’s knowledge, attitude and
practices (KAP) toward the COVID-19 epidemic in Southeast and South Asia applying
the mixed study design (cross-sectional and systematic review).
Methods: In the cross-sectional study, 743 respondents’ socio-demographic and KAPrelated
information was collected through an online population-based survey from the
Malaysian population. In the systematic review, the database PubMed, Web of Science
and Google Scholar search engine were searched and related published articles from
South and Southeast Asia were included. Frequency distribution, Chi-square association
test and binary logistic regression were fitted using cross-sectional data whereas random
effect model and study bias were performed in meta-analysis. We used 95% confidence
interval and P<0.05 as statistical significances.
Results: The prevalence of good knowledge, positive attitude and frequent practice
toward COVID-19 epidemic were 52.6%, 51.8% and 57.1%, respectively, obtained by
cross-sectional data analysis. The KAP prevalence were ranged from 26.53% (Thailand)
to 95.4% (Nepal); 59.3% (Turkey) to 92.5% (Pakistan); and 50.2 (Turkey) to 97%
(Afghanistan), respectively, obtained by 18 studies included in the meta-analysis. The
prevalence of KAP was higher [84% vs. 79%, Pheterogeneity <0.001; 83% vs. 80%,
Pheterogeneity <0.001; 85% vs. 83%, Pheterogeneity <0.001] in South Asia compared to
Southeast Asia, obtained by subgroup analysis. Some studies reported mean level instead of the proportion of the KAP where the score varied from 8.15–13.14; 2.33–33.0;
and 1.97–31.03, respectively. Having more knowledge and attitude were encouraged
more likely to practice toward COVID-19. Study suggests age, gender, education,
place of residence and occupation as the most frequent significant risk factors of KAP
toward COVID-19.
Conclusion: The study sufficiently informs how other countries in Southeast and
South Asia enriches their KAP behaviors during the pandemic which may help health
professionals and policymakers to develop targeted interventions and effective practices.