Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices towards COVID-19 among Senior High School Students within the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality in the Eastern Region of Ghana

Background: The COVID-19 has ravaged the world since its incidence in the year 2019 in Wuhan, China. Its incidence was accompanied by high levels of morbidities and mortalities, thus, creating a shakeup in various health systems across the globe and with little information on knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards COVID-19 in Ghana and no information on KAP towards COVID-19 in Lower Manya Krobo Municipality, this study is to explore the KAP of Senior High School student?s towards COVID-19 to inform policy to guide schools as they reopen. Methods: This was a quantitative cross-sectional study conducted in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality of Ghana between January to March 2021 among 441 randomly selected Senior High School Students using a modified structured questionnaire that had four (4) sections as adapted from Peng et al., (2020). The average age of the study participants was 17?2 years. Analysis was done using Chi-square estimation and Multivariate logistic regression models with a p-value less than 0.05 as the threshold for statistical significance respectively. A linear correlation test between KAP was also carried out. Results: Out of 441 students, 241 (54.65%) were females, 343 (77.78%) attended public senior high school and 213 (48.30%) were in their second year. The majority of the students (32.43%) were in the General Arts program among whom57.37%, demonstrated good knowledge,29.48% good attitude, and 76.87%. good practices. There was a positive linear correlation between knowledge and attitude, attitude and practice, and knowledge and practice. Students in the private schools were less likely to have a poor knowledge compared to their counterparts in the government schools [OR=0.189, 95% CI=0.05-0.65] and students in the boarding house were less likely to demonstrate poor practices toward COVID-19 preventive measures compared to their counterparts who stayed at home [OR=0.545, 95% CI=0.23-0.91] as no variable was statistically significant for the attitudes of students towards COVID-19. Conclusion: Senior high school students in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality showed a good level of knowledge, and practice as well as a bad level of attitudes towards COVID-19. Their knowledge levels directly affected their attitudes and practice levels. Students in the private schools had good knowledge about COVID-19 and students in boarding houses demonstrated good practices in prevention of the spread of COVID-19.