Monkeypox related knowledge, attitudes and practices among students in a tertiary institution in southwest, Nigeria: A cross-sectional study

Introduction: Monkeypox caused by monkeypox virus, a member of the Orthopoxvirus genus in the family Poxviridae is usually a self-limited disease, however severe cases can occur with case fatality ratio of 3–6% being reported in recent times. This study is aimed at assessing monkeypox related knowledge, attitudes and practices among students in a tertiary institution in Southwest, Nigeria. Methodology: The study utilized a cross-sectional design and semi-structured questionnaire to collect data from 278 respondents from August to October 2022. Results: In this study, only 37.8% of respondents had good monkeypox related knowledge, 87.8% had good monkeypox related attitude while 96% had good monkeypox related practices. There was association between good monkeypox related knowledge and university education level (p=0.002) with 100 Level student having better knowledge. There was also association between good monkeypox related attitude and sex (p=0.012) with female respondents having better attitudes and there was association between monkeypox related practices and age (p=0.028) with respondents between the ages of 18-22 years having better practices. However, there was no association between monkeypox related knowledge, attitudes and practices and marital status, ethnicity and religion. Conclusion: Our findings revealed the crucial need for public health education on monkeypox infection to improve knowledge in order to prevent and protect students from monkeypox infection. Good monkeypox related attitudes and practices should be maintained and improved through measures for reduction of exposure to the virus and prompt detection and response.