Background and Aim: Since it was declared as pandemic by the World Health Organisation, COVID-19 has fastly spread throughout the world, making it a major public health challenge. Like most countries around the world, Senegal has not been on the fringes to this pandemic, which has undermined even the most robust healthcare systems. The aim of this study was to analyse the knowledge and perceptions on COVID-19 among students enrolled in health-related and non-health-related disciplines.
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted online via Google Forms among 600 students of Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar. Numerical scoring was used to assess respondents' knowledge levels, while binary logistic regression allowed to analyse the determinants of the satisfactory knowledge on COVID-19.
Results: The results show that the students' first information sources about COVID-19 was social networks (54%) and the media (32%). Students were aware of the severity (83%) and seriousness of the disease when they heard about it for the first time. However, students in health-related sectors knew more relatives who have been infected with COVID-19 and a high-risk perception of being infected and severity of the disease than their non-health-related colleagues. With a mean knowledge score of 14.93 ± 2.49, 64% of participants had satisfactory overall knowledge of COVID-19 and preventive measures. In addition, students' knowledge was significantly influenced by the type of faculty and the perception of the risk of being infected by COVID-19 (p < 0.05).
Conclusion: These results can guide university authorities in the development of interactive health education programmes that involve medical and non-medical students through the growing One Health approach in order to share knowledge and improve the acceptability and implementation of COVID-19 control measures in the university environment.
Key words: Knowledge, perception, COVID-19, students, Senegal
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