Assessing knowledge and practices for covid-19prevention among students from class 8th & 9th standard in selected schools and equivalent grades level of madrasas in cox bazar districts, Bangladesh

Abstract

Background: Knowledge and practices are crucial cognitive components in public health, especially in health promotion and prevention (Ferdous et al., 2020).this paper examines knowledge and practice among students of 8th and 9th grade in schools and madrasas of Cox’s bazar district as this will help in developing effective intervention to increase knowledge and practice among students. Method: quantitative approach and cross-sectional design used to collect data among all student in grade 8 & 9 in schools and madrasas. Results: it was found that students have inadequate knowledge score about covid prevention whereas adequate practice score is observed to prevent covid-19. The level of knowledge varied by sociodemographic characteristics. Females [AOR .605,95% CI: (0.484 -0.755) < 0.01] and individuals studying in 9th grade [1.307(1.024 - 1.668) p<0.05 demonstrated inadequate levels of knowledge. Whereas the students living in Pekua were having odds .630 times performing more practice about COVID-19 prevention [OR .630, 95% CI: (0.396 - 1.004)] than students living in Sadar. the study predicts that the odds of a female student being carrying out practice about COVID-19 prevention are 1.014 times [OR 1.014 95% CI: (0.687 - 1.498) than those of a male student. Conclusion: Our findings suggest the need for effective and tailored health education programs aimed at improving COVID-19knowledge among students and to implementation and maintenance of safe practices.