Background: COVID-19 first broke out in china, Hubei province on December 29, 2019. Since then it took more than hundred thousand lives worldwide . Although all countries are taking varying degree of measures to curb the dissemination, the virus is still spreading rapidly in all part of the world. Adherence of peoples for COVID-19 precautions measures is one of the most important factors which determine the effectiveness of curbing the spread. However without having good attitude adherence of people toward precaution measures could be challenging. Therefore the aim of this study is to assess the attitude, practice and associated factors of southern Ethiopian residents toward COVID-19 and its prevention. Methods: : A community based cross sectional study was conducted among 585 Southern Ethiopian residents. Bivariate and multivariate binary logistic regression was used to determine association between dependent and independent variables. Adjusted odds ratio with their 95% CI was used show the strength of association. P-value < 0.05 was used to decide statistically significant association. Result: Most of the study participants (90.3%) have good attitude toward COVID-19 and its prevention. Being younger age group, having chronic medical illness, using television as a source of information and having good knowledge were significantly associated with good attitude toward COVID-19.On other hand;only 20% of the study participants have good practice toward COVID-19 prevention. Educational status, occupation and having chronic medical illness, uses of religious teaching as information sources are associated factors for good practice against COVID-19 infection. Conclusion: We conclude that despite the presence good attitude in majority of respondents much work needed to improve rare practice of COVID-19 preventive measures.
Magnitude and associated factors for attitude and practice of Southern Ethiopian residents toward COVID-19 and its preventions: A community based cross sectional study