Knowledge, Awareness and Practices Regarding Dengue among Rural and Slum Communities in North Indian city, India

Journal Title: International Journal of Medical Science and Public Health - Year 2014, Vol 3, Issue 3

Abstract

 Background: Dengue fevers (DF), transmitted by Aedes aegypti, is an arboviral disease endemic in the Asian subcontinent. It has emerged as a notable public health problem in recent decades. Rapid urbanization, environmental changes and neglected (rural and slums) areas results in vector breeding causes rise in dengue outbreaks. Aims & Objective: To study the knowledge, awareness and practices regarding dengue among rural and slum communities in Chandigarh City. Materials and Methods: This community based cross sectional study was conducted in Chandigarh city, India during June-July 2011 among 800 respondents.The sample area was the two rural (villages) and two slums of the city. Each 200 respondents from each village and slum area. The aim was to assess the knowledge and awareness, preventive measures and most prevalent source of information regarding dengue. Simple random sampling method was used for interview by using structural questionnaire. Results: Results showed that knowledge and awareness about dengue fever was generally inadequate. It was more in rural (48.5%) as compared to slum (30%). Only 72.62% of the respondents answered that mosquito was responsible for the transmission of dengue. They had insufficient knowledge that dengue mosquito bites at day time and breeds in clean water. 70.87% don’t know the dengue symptoms. Most prevalent preventive method was coils, liquid vaporizers. Health professional and television /radio were the important source of information for dengue. Conclusion: There is a need to make villages and slum people aware of different preventive practices and reduce this knowledge application gap. Thus, understanding people perception and practices could help in identifying the targets areas to control outbreaks.

Authors and Affiliations

Geetu Malhotra, Aman Yadav, Pooja Dudeja

Keywords

Related Articles

A study on antibiotic resistance pattern of Escherichia coli isolated from urine specimens in Eastern India

Background: Antimicrobial resistance is an emerging threat in today’s world. Most of the common pathogens are demon - strating significant resistance to commonly used drugs. Escherichia coli ( E. coli ) is one...

Estimation of stature from length of ulna in Maharashtrian population

Background: Estimation of stature has a signi fi cant importance in the fi eld of forensic medicine and anthropometry. Objectives: In this study, an attempt was made to estimate linear regression equation from len...

Prognostic factors in severe and complicated malaria

Background: The spectrum of clinical picture of malaria ranges from the most benign febrile illness, which is completely curable with a simple course of chloroquine tablets to the most serious and life-threatening il...

Study of acute acalculous cholecystitis as an atypical manifestation in dengue fever

Background: Dengue is a rapidly emerging global health problem. It is an arboviral disease caused by four antigenically distinct dengue viruses. Dengue epidemic occurs annually with major outbreaks in various parts o...

Terbinafine-induced acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis  

 Acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis (AGEP) is a diffuse pustular disorder, a member of the “neutrophilic dermatoses.” Histologically, it is represented by the presence of vasculitis, linked with nonfollicul...

Download PDF file
  • EP ID EP106221
  • DOI 10.5455/ijmsph.2013.181220132
  • Views 133
  • Downloads 0

How To Cite

Geetu Malhotra, Aman Yadav, Pooja Dudeja (2014).  Knowledge, Awareness and Practices Regarding Dengue among Rural and Slum Communities in North Indian city, India. International Journal of Medical Science and Public Health, 3(3), 295-299. https://europub.co.uk./articles/-A-106221