Knowledge, Awareness and Practices Regarding Dengue Fever among the Adult Population of Dengue Hit Cosmopolitan

Abstract

BackgroundThe World health Organization (WHO) declares dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fever to be endemic in South Asia. Despite the magnitude of problem, no documented evidence exists in Pakistan which reveals the awareness and practices of the country's adult population regarding dengue fever, its spread, symptoms, treatment and prevention. This study was conducted to assess the level of knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding dengue fever in people visiting tertiary care hospitals in Karachi, Pakistan.MethodsA cross-sectional pilot study was conducted among people visiting tertiary care hospitals in Karachi. Through convenience sampling, a pre-tested and structured questionnaire was administered through a face-to-face unprompted interview with 447 visitors. Knowledge was recorded on a scale of 1–3.ResultsAbout 89.9% of individuals interviewed had heard of dengue fever. Sufficient knowledge about dengue was found to be in 38.5% of the sample, with 66% of these in Aga Khan University Hospital and 33% in Civil Hospital Karachi. Literate individuals were relatively more well-informed about dengue fever as compared to the illiterate people (p<0.001). Knowledge based upon preventive measures was found to be predominantly focused towards prevention of mosquito bites (78.3%) rather than eradication of mosquito population (17.3%). Use of anti- mosquito spray was the most prevalent (48.1%) preventive measure. Television was considered as the most important and useful source of information on the disease.ConclusionAdult population of Karachi has adequate knowledge related to the disease ‘dengue’ on isolated aspects, but the overall prevalence of ‘sufficient knowledge’ based on our criteria is poor. We demonstrated adequate prevalence of preventive practices against the disease. Further studies correlating the association between knowledge and its effectiveness against dengue will be helpful in demonstrating the implications of awareness campaigns.

Cross sectional study on knowledge, attitude and practice regarding dengue among adult population visiting a tertiary care hospital in Puducherry, India

“…In a In a similar hospital based study done by Itrat et al, about 47.5% respondents stated the use of mosquito coils/ mat as a preventive measure against mosquito. 16 In our study, about 66% of the respondents spend less than 100 Rupees a month for vector control measures. In a similar study done by Boratne et al in Puducherry in 2010, it was found out that about 62% of respondents spend less than 100 Rupees a month for vector control measures.…”

Knowledge, awareness and practices regarding dengue fever

“…Use of antimosquito spray was the most prevalent (48.1%) preventive measure. 15 Itrat et al found that one-half (51.1%) of those interrogated were knowing that the dengue mosquito breeds in clean standing water. 16 It was similar to our study.…”

A Cross-sectional Survey on the Knowledge and Attitudes towards Zika Virus and its Prevention among Residents of Selangor, Malaysia

“…[35] Our study also suggests that respondents with tertiary education level had a significantly higher knowledge and attitude score. Previous research has shown that the level of education has a significant impact on knowledge [27,36] and attitude [24,37] related to mosquito-borne disease like dengue. Thus, more effective education programs for population awareness need to be implemented among people with low education level especially in areas where the mosquitoborne diseases dominate.…”