Level of awareness about tuberculosis in urban slums: Implications for advocacy and communication strategy planning in the National program

Abstract

Background:Tuberculosis (TB) remains as an important public health problem in India. Awareness about the disease, its diagnosis, and treatment among public will help in controlling the killer disease. This study aims at arriving at an educational diagnosis about TB in an urban poor community.Materials and Methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted in an urban slum in South India using a structured, pretested questionnaire. Domains identified were knowledge about TB, symptoms, spread, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of TB.Results:A total of 395 households were interviewed. Of them, 370 (94%) respondents had heard about TB. Regarding the symptoms of TB, 82% were aware that cough is a symptom of TB. Among the 79% of study subjects who reported any test to diagnose TB, sputum examination as a method of diagnosis was known to only 40%. However, 84% of the subjects were aware of the free treatment available for TB under National program.Conclusion:Level of awareness about TB among urban poor in a slum area is good. Knowledge about “free treatment” and “duration of treatment” has to be stressed during health education activities.

Knowledge, attitude and practices regarding pulmonary tuberculosis in a rural area of Tamil Nadu, India: a cross sectional study

“…Regarding the cost of PTB treatment, only 20% knew that TB treatment is available free of cost in government health centres, whereas this was found to be 84% in a study by Chinnakali et al, 34% in a study by Kar et al, and 48.8% in a study by Mushtaq et al 16,23,24 This emphasizes the need to strengthen the health education activities, as nearly 80% of the subjects didn"t know about the free anti-TB drugs provided by the government. Community support to the PTB patients was also found to be less as nearly half of the respondents said the villagers generally tries to avoid the PTB patients.…”

“…Sharma et al, Chinnakali et al and Elbur et al, in their study in Delhi, Puducherry and Sudan respectively reported that 94.4%, 87% and 80.3% of the participants were aware that PTB is curable. 16,17,22 In this study, being part of a nuclear family and age ≤45 years were significantly associated with adequate PTB knowledge. Tolossa et al reported that people with high education level had increased odds of having good knowledge towards PTB.…”

“…Whereas in the study by Chinnakali et al, 75% of the subjects and in the study by Elbur et al, 58.6% mentioned that PTB can be prevented. 16,17 Knowledge that PTB is preventable was found to be very high (98.2%) in a study by Sharma et al among the general population of Delhi. 22 About 71% of the subjects mentioned TB as a curable disease.…”

“…In a study done by Konda SG in an urban township in Mumbai, 48.4% of the subjects, and in the study by Chinnakali et al in Puducherry, 82% of the subjects, and in the study by Tolossa et al in Ethiopia, 72.4% of the subjects mentioned persistent cough as the most common symptom. 15,16,21 The awareness on the symptoms varies widely with different study settings. Knowledge on the symptoms of PTB is very vital as it guides the patients in seeking medical care without delay.…”

“…This is similar to a study done in Ethiopia by Tolossa et al where 94.9% were aware of the disease and a study in Tamilnadu by Chinnakali et al where 94% have heard about the disease. 15,16 However, the knowledge on the bacteria as the cause of TB was limited, as many of them suggested other causes like cold air, hot climate, tobacco smoke and food shortage. This low awareness on the cause was also reported in a Sudanese study in which only 2% respondents and in the Ethiopian study in which 22.9% respondents had knowledge on the cause of TB.…”