Knowledge, Perception and Compliance of Facemask Use at ENT and Eye Clinics of a Tertiary Hospital in Anambra State, Nigeria during the Covid-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 came as an unprecedented pandemic that the whole world was not prepared for, posing serious threat to public health and global Economy since 2019 to date. The use of facemask by health workers and the general population is strongly recommended by World Health Organization (WHO) and centers for disease control as a standard for transmission-based precaution. The aim of this study is to assess the knowledge and attitude of patients and caregivers attending ENT and Eye clinics on the use of Facemasks as means of prevention of COVID-19 in a tertiary institution in south East Nigeria, This was a cross-sectional study involving outpatients attending ENT and Eye clinics in Anambra State Nigeria during the COVID-19 pandemic. A pre-tested self-administered questionnaire was used to obtain information from the participants, after each of them had given a written consent to participate. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 23. Ethical approval was obtained from the NAUTH Research Ethics committee. A total of 442 participants were included in this study; 62.2% were females and 37.8%, males. The mean age was 45.3 ± 18 Years. Most of the participants (69.7%) had never used facemask prior to onset of COVID-19 but 89.6% admitted to have been using it regularly since onset of the pandemic. Almost all the participants (96.2%) have heard about COVID-19, however, only 87.1% believed it was real. There a significant association between Educational qualification, occupation and the belief that Covid-19 is real were shown to influence regular use of face masks (p