Background: Thousands of health care workers were tested positive and died as they are at the highest risk of getting CIVID-19.  The integration of healthcare workers’ good knowledge, a favorable attitude, and satisfactory practice towards COVID- 19 could contribute a substantial role in preventing and controlling of this pandemic. Therefore, this systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to determine the pooled estimate of knowledge, attitude and practice towards COVID-19 among healthcare workers in Ethiopia.

Methods: A systematic search of articles was conducted from PubMed, EMBASE, Global Health Google Scholar, Scopus, Web of science and Google scholar. The search was conducted from December 2, 2020 to December 20, 2020.  Data were extracted from articles included in the review using a data extraction tool which was adapted from the Joanna Briggs Institute. The quality of each included primary studies was evaluated using the Newcastle-Ottawa scale tool. Data analysis was performed using STATA 11.  The presence of heterogeneity between the studies was assessed using Cochrane Q and I² test. Publication bias was assessed using visual inspection of funnel plots and Egger’s test. A random effects meta-analysis was computed to determine the pooled estimate of knowledge, attitude and practice towards COVID-19 among healthcare workers with 95% confidence interval.

Results: A total of 12 studies involving 4505 health care professionals were included for this review and meta-analysis. The pooled prevalence of knowledge, attitude and practice towards COVID-19 among healthcare workers in Ethiopia was found to be 71.32% (95% CI: 61.68, 80.96), 69.22% (95% CI: 57.26, 81.18) and 62.96% (95% CI: 50.10, 75.81) respectively. Heterogeneity across included studies was exhibited while computing pooled estimate of knowledge, attitude and practice. As a result, a random effects meta-analysis was computed.

Conclusion: This meta-analysis found that substantial number of healthcare workers in Ethiopia had poor knowledge, unfavorable attitude and insufficient practice towards COVID-19. The finding of this study suggests the need for provision of training to healthcare professionals to address the global agenda of COVID- 19 pandemic. Moreover, there is a need to motivate and monitor healthcare workers’ adherence to recommended preventive guidelines and measures.

Keywords: knowledge, attitude, practice, COVID-19, coronavirus disease