Knowledge, attitude and practices regarding dengue and its vector among medical practitioners in Malakand region, Pakistan

Abstract

Dengue fever (DF) is increasingly recognized as one of the world’s major mosquito borne diseases and causes significant morbidity and mortality in tropical and subtropical countries. Dengue fever is endemic in most part of Pakistan and continues to be a public health concern. Knowledge, attitude and practices can play an important role in management of the disease. Current study was aimed to determine the level of knowledge, attitude and practices regarding dengue fever among health practitioners, to study the level of knowledge and attitude with preventive practices for dengue fever. A cross sectional study was carried out in medical practitioners of the four districts of Malakand region during October to November 2019. A pre-structured questionnaire was used to collect data from medical practitioners. Data was analyzed using Graph Pad version 5. Significant value was considered when less than 0.05 (at 95% confidence of interval). The results revealed that most of participants have seen dengue vector (62%), the media being the most quoted source of information. Nearly 81.2% participants were aware from transmission of dengue fever is by mosquito bite. Practices based upon preventive measures were found to be predominantly focused towards prevention of mosquito bites rather than elimination of breeding places. Although the knowledge regarding DF and mosquito control measure was quite high among the medical practitioners but this knowledge was not put into practice. Further studies are required to aware the people about dengue and its vector in order to get prevention and control.

Knowledge, attitude, and practice of healthcare workers regarding dengue fever in Mazandaran Province, northern Iran

“…In the present study, the majority of the respondents were aware of clinical management (82.1%), especially regarding the avoidance of aspirin during dengue compared to other studies in Jamaica (29.8%) ( 22 ) and Sri Lanka (42%) ( 24 ). Our findings on knowledge of prevention and control (69%) are consistent with those of other studies which reported a fairly good level of knowledge ( 41 ) but contrary to those that had reported a low level of Knowledge in this regard ( 42 ).…”

Knowledge and Awareness of Community People on Dengue Fever Infection: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…In contrast, Khan et al, (2021) reported an increased level of knowledge and awareness in the northern region of Pakistan, in which only one-fourth of participants were ill-informed about not using antibiotics and NSAIDs during dengue infection. 14…”

Impact of health education-based intervention on community’s awareness on dengue and its prevention in Chidambaram during COVID-19 pandemic

“…17 The current study and several other studies highlight the necessity for interventions focused on health education to give communities access to knowledge. 5,17,20,22,23,26 Giving people information is crucial for changing their behavior, but more comprehensive strategies that included community engagement, social mobilization, and additional vector control and surveillance methods were required. According to Horstick et al vector-control services and cooperating agencies lack both the technical know-how to interact with communities and the necessary input from social sciences.…”