Citation: Masood, S.; Alkubaisi, N.A.;
Aslam, M.; Salman, M.; Baraka, M.A.;
Mustafa, Z.U.; Mallhi, T.H.; Khan,
Y.H.; Meyer, J.C.; Godman, B.
Knowledge of Human Monkeypox
Infection among Final Year Medical,
Pharmacy, and Nursing Students: A
Multicenter, Cross-Sectional Analysis
from Pakistan. Healthcare 2023, 11,
2777. https://doi.org/10.3390/
healthcare11202777
Academic Editor: Jose
Granero-Molina
Received: 4 September 2023
Revised: 22 September 2023
Accepted: 26 September 2023
Published: 20 October 2023
Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
4.0/).
healthcare
Article
Knowledge of Human Monkeypox Infection among Final Year
Medical, Pharmacy, and Nursing Students: A Multicenter,
Cross-Sectional Analysis from Pakistan
Sahabia Masood
1
, Noorah A. Alkubaisi
2
, Maryam Aslam
3
, Muhammad Salman
4
, Mohamed A. Baraka
5,6,
* ,
Zia Ul Mustafa
7,8,
*, Tauqeer Hussain Mallhi
9
, Yusra Habib Khan
9
, Johanna C. Meyer
10
and Brian Godman
10,11,12
1
Department of Medicine, University Medical and Dental College Faisalabad, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan;
sahabiamasood15@gmail.com
2
Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University,
Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia; nalkubaisi@ksu.edu.sa
3
Basic Health Unit (BHU), 554GB, Tehsil Tandlianwala, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan;
maryamaslam00999@gmail.com
4
Institute of Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmaceutical and Allied Health Sciences, Lahore College for Women
University, Lahore 54000, Pakistan; msk5012@gmail.com
5
Department of Pharmacy, Fatima College of Health Sciences, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 3798, United Arab Emirates
6
Clinical Pharmacy Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Azhar University, Cairo 11651, Egypt
7
Discipline of Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia,
Gelugor 11800, Penang, Malaysia
8
Department of Pharmacy Services, District Headquarter (DHQ) Hospital, Pakpattan 57400, Pakistan
9
Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Jouf University, Sakaka 72388, Saudi Arabia;
thhussain@ju.edu.sa (T.H.M.); yhkhan@ju.edu.sa (Y.H.K.)
10
Department of Public Health Pharmacy and Management, School of Pharmacy, Sefako Makgatho Health
Sciences University, Pretoria 0208, South Africa; hannelie.meyer@smu.ac.za (J.C.M.);
brian.godman@strath.ac.uk (B.G.)
11
Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Science (SIPBS), University of Strathclyde,
Glasgow G4 0RE, UK
12
Centre of Medical and Bio-Allied Health Sciences Research, Ajman University,
Ajman P.O. Box 346, United Arab Emirates
* Correspondence: mohamed.baraka2020@gmail.com (M.A.B.); ziaulmustafa@student.usm.my (Z.U.M.)
Abstract: The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the monkeypox outbreak a public health
emergency in June 2022. In Pakistan, positive cases of monkeypox were reported in April 2023.
Healthcare workers (HCWs) are considered as a front-line force to combat such outbreaks. A
questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 11 public sector educational insti-
tutions in Punjab, Pakistan, during May and June 2023 among final year medical, pharmacy, and
nursing students concerning their knowledge of monkeypox. This included the signs/symptoms
of monkeypox. Healthcare students were chosen as they are the HCWs of tomorrow. A total of 389
healthcare students participated in the study, with a mean age of 23.17 ± 1.72 years, and the majority
were female. The mean knowledge score was 17.69 ± 4.55 (95% CI 17.24–18.14) out of a maximum
total knowledge score of 26 (each correct answer was given a score of 1). The proportion of students
with good, moderate, and poor knowledge was 21.6%, 43.2%, and 35.2%, respectively. Age (p = 0.017),
gender (p < 0.001), and education (p < 0.001) had a significant impact on the knowledge score. In the
multivariate linear regression model, education was the only significant factor linked to knowledge
scores. Overall, the majority of future HCWs had moderate knowledge of monkeypox. Consequently,
educational activities are needed to improve monkeypox-related knowledge among future HCWs.
Furthermore, emerging infectious diseases should be routinely incorporated into HCW curricula.
Keywords: outbreak; monkeypox; medical; knowledge; healthcare students; Pakistan
Healthcare 2023, 11, 2777. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11202777 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/healthcare