Demystifying media sources of information and levels of knowledge about COVID-19: a rapid mini-review of cross-sectional studies in Africa

Abstract

COVID-19 control is highly affected by knowledge levels which are also affected by receipt of information on the disease. Therefore, this review examined knowledge levels and media sources of information findings of the studies on knowledge, attitudes, perceptions, and practices towards COVID-19 done in low- and middle-income countries in Africa to shed light on the interplay of the use of different media platforms and populations’ knowledge about the COVID-19 pandemic and identify shorter- and longer-term priorities for COVID-19 research to improve the continent’s capacity to not only deal with COVID-19 but also future pandemics. Searches were conducted in PubMed and CINAHL databases/sites with major terms being “knowledge”, “attitudes”, “perceptions”, “practices”, “COVID-19 “, and “Africa”. 319 were where identified and subjected to the exclusion and inclusion criteria retaining only 10 free, full-text research articles related to knowledge, attitudes, perceptions, and practices towards COVID-19. This review summarized the levels of knowledge and media information sources among African populations. The review indicated a largely higher level of knowledge towards COVID-19 among populations who received information through various media platforms and alluded to the different media platforms that could be appropriate to spread COVID-19 related information to African populations.