Knowledge, Health Seeking Behavior and Perceived Stigma towards Tuberculosis among Tuberculosis Suspects in a Rural Community in Southwest Ethiopia

Abstract

BackgroundPerceived stigma and lack of awareness could contribute to the late presentation and low detection rate of tuberculosis (TB). We conducted a study in rural southwest Ethiopia among TB suspects to assess knowledge about and stigma towards TB and their health seeking behavior.MethodsA community based cross sectional survey was conducted from February to March 2009 in the Gilgel Gibe field research area. Any person 15 years and above with cough for at least 2 weeks was considered a TB suspect and included in the study. Data were collected by trained personnel using a pretested structured questionnaire. Logistic regression analysis was done using SPSS 15.0 statistical software.ResultsOf the 476 pulmonary TB suspects, 395 (83.0%) had ever heard of TB; “evil eye” (50.4%) was the commonly mentioned cause of TB. Individuals who could read and write were more likely to be aware about TB [(crude OR = 2.98, (95%CI: 1.25, 7.08)] and more likely to know that TB is caused by a microorganism [(adjusted OR = 3.16, (95%CI: 1.77, 5.65)] than non-educated individuals. Males were more likely to know the cause of TB [(adjusted OR = 1.92, (95%CI: 1.22, 3.03)] than females. 51.3% of TB suspects perceived that other people would consider them inferior if they had TB. High stigma towards TB was reported by 199(51.2%). 220 (46.2%) did not seek help for their illness. Individuals who had previous anti-TB treatment were more likely to have appropriate health seeking behavior [(adjusted OR = 3.65, (95%CI: 1.89, 7.06)] than those who had not.ConclusionThere was little knowledge about TB in the Gilgel Gibe field research area. We observed inappropriate health seeking behavior and stigma towards TB. TB control programs in Ethiopia should educate rural communities, particularly females and non-educated individuals, about the cause and the importance of early diagnosis and treatment of TB.

Knowledge and Awareness of Tuberculosis Among Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients in a Rural Area of West Bengal

“…3 Smoking as the cause of TB was also perceived by the majorities of South Africans. 24 The findings of the present study indicated that the subjects had basic awareness about the symptoms of TB, which was comparable to the results of previous studies from West Bengal, 12 North East Ethiopia, 14 South West Ethiopia 22 and Nepal. 25 The results also demonstrated that the participant's knowledge about the mode of spread of TB varied widely.…”

“…28 It was also observed that most of the participants in the present study thought that only lung is affected by TB. Similar result was observed in the study conducted in Southwest Ethiopia, 22 where, 91.6% of the TB suspects thought that the lungs were the most affected part of the body. Majorities of Nepalese people also thought lung as the main part affected by TB.…”

“…However, it was 27.6% in Pakistan who never heard about the disease, before diagnoses of their TB 1 and 83% in South West Ethiopia. 22 Primary source of information about TB and its treatment in the present study was health worker, followed by patient. However, the contribution of media in increasing awareness was very low.…”

Raising Awareness about Tuberculosis among Women Living in Rural Communities on the Atlantic Coastline of Nigeria

“…Despite almost 60% awareness, the proportion of respondents that knew that bacteria/germ is the cause of TB was very low (6.8%) which accords with earlier studies in Africa [26,[28][29][30][31], and Pakistan [32]. Among those who responded that they knew the cause of TB, 20.3% said it was due to smoking cigarette, 23.5% mentioned that it was caused by inhaling dust and 1.3% stated witchcraft, result at variance to what was reported from the study in eastern Nigeria (24).…”

The Association Between Perceived Stigma Towards Tuberculosis and the Implementation of Diagnosis Procedure on Tuberculosis Screening Program in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia

“…Social exclusion is one of social determinant of health that have major consequent in health inequity (Hatzenbuehler, Phelan and Link, 2013;Craig et al, 2017). Most presumptive TB cases (51.3%) perceived that other people would consider them inferior if they have TB (Abebe et al, 2010).…”