• Ronald Olum, Jonathan Kajjimu, Andrew Marvin Kanyike, Gaudencia Chekwech, Godfrey Wekha, Dianah Rhoda Nassozi, Juliet Kemigisa, Paul Mulyamboga, Oscar Kabagambe Muhoozi, Lauryn Nsenga, Musilim Lyavala, Asaph Asiimwe, and Felix Bongomin.
• School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
• JMIR Public Health Surveill. 2020 Jun 19; 6 (2): e19847.

BackgroundThe coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is a global public health concern affecting over 5 million people and posing a great burden on health care systems worldwide.ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to determine the knowledge, attitude, and practices of medical students in Uganda on the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsWe conducted an online, descriptive cross-sectional study in mid-April 2020, using WhatsApp Messenger. Medical students in 9 of the 10 medical schools in Uganda were approached through convenience sampling. Bloom's cut-off of 80% was used to determine good knowledge (≥12 out of 15), positive attitude (≥20 out of 25), and good practice (≥12 out of 15).ResultsThe data of 741 first- to fifth-year medical students, consisting of 468 (63%) males with a mean age of 24 (SD 4) years, were analyzed. The majority (n=626, 84%) were pursuing Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degrees. Overall, 671 (91%) had good knowledge, 550 (74%) had a positive attitude, and 426 (57%) had good practices. Knowledge was associated with the 4th year of study (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 4.1, 95% CI 1.6-10.3; P<.001). Attitude was associated with the female sex (aOR 0.7, 95% CI 0.5-1; P=.04) and TV or radio shows (aOR 1.1, 95% CI 0.6-2.1; P=.01). Practices were associated with the ≥24 years age category (aOR 1.5, 95% CI 1.1-2.1; P=.02) and online courses (aOR 1.8, 95% CI 1.1-3.2; P=.03). In total, 592 (80%) medical students were willing to participate in frontline care if called upon.ConclusionsMedical students in Uganda have sufficient knowledge of COVID-19 and will be a large reservoir for health care response when the need arises.©Ronald Olum, Jonathan Kajjimu, Andrew Marvin Kanyike, Gaudencia Chekwech, Godfrey Wekha, Dianah Rhoda Nassozi, Juliet Kemigisa, Paul Mulyamboga, Oscar Kabagambe Muhoozi, Lauryn Nsenga, Musilim Lyavala, Asaph Asiimwe, Felix Bongomin. Originally published in JMIR Public Health and Surveillance (http://publichealth.jmir.org), 19.06.2020.

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