KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES, AND PRACTICES (KAP) TOWARD SAFE DISPOSAL OF FACE MASKS AMONG SUDANESE PUBLIC HEALTH COLLEGE STUDENTS AND HEALTH WORKERS DURING COVID-19
Creators: name: Fatima ELshikh Mohammed Elhadi
name: Afrah Kamal Abdelazim Yassin
name: Muhanad M. A. Elhag
name: Ahmed Salih
name: Mariam Hamdan Mohmmed Ahmed
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: KAP Study, Face Masks, Safe Disposal, Pandemic, Sudan.

description: Abstract 

The mask is a source of contaminated biological waste. Asymptomatic individuals who wear masks can infect others due to viable microbial loads leaking from the mask’s transmission can occur after touching the mask, medical masks may lead to self-contamination. This cross-sectional web-based investigation was undertaken at an enormous among students of public health and public health practitioners in Sudan, from the 5th of April to the 15th of July 2023. These multi-campus universities and multi sectors health care institutes have over 282 Responses. We distributed a structured questionnaire to participants via social media platforms like WhatsApp. Before attempting to fill out the responses, we asked each respondent for their informed consent by clicking on the consent statement. The data was analyzed descriptively using IBM SPSS version 29 (Chicago Inc., USA). Analytical statistics were calculated using cross-tabulation and the Chi square test, with p<0.05 considered statistically significant. Result: More than half of the participants are female (54.9%), and the rest (45%) are male. Half of the respondents are married, and nearly half (48%) are unmarried. Most participants are between 18 and 30 (50.7) years and between 30 and 60 years (44.3%); only 4.9% are older than 60. The overall knowledge score was high (97.8%), and nearly all participants had good knowledge (99.6%) and attitude (95.7%) of face mask use and disposal. Nearly half of respondents reported strongly agreeing (47.2%) and agreeing (45.4%) that the mask effectively prevents respiratory diseases. most of the respondents strongly agree (74.1%), followed by agree (23.8%), that the accumulation of plastic masks in the environment is a hazard to the environment. Most respondents started using face masks during the pandemic, 75%, while the rest before the pandemic. Most respondents used face masks outside the house (79.8), and few per cent used masks when contacting patients inside and at the workplace. the result showed that unmarried (55.8%) have better practices than married (48.6%), females (58.1) have better practices than males (44.9%) and those who have master's degrees (57.8%) have better practices than others.  The result observed a significant relationship between sex and the practice of use and disposal of face masks. Conclusions: Nearly all participants had good knowledge (99.6%) and attitudes (95.7%) of face mask use and disposal. Nearly half of respondents reported strongly agreeing (47.2%) and agreeing (45.4%) that the mask effectively prevents respiratory diseases. Most of the respondents strongly agree (74.1%), followed by agree (23.8%), that the accumulation of plastic masks in the environment is a hazard to the environment. The result observed a significant relationship between gender and the practice of use and disposal of face masks.