title: Awareness about kala-azar disease and related preventive attitudes and practices in a highly endemic rural area of India.
abstract: This study was undertaken to assess the extent of community awareness and related practices about kala-azar undertaken by them to control the disease, in an highly endemic focus of Bihar, India. A household-based cross-sectional knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) survey consisting of quantitative components on knowledge, attitude, and practices concerning kala-azar was administered to heads-of-household through a semi-structured questionnaire. Data indicated that 61% respondents were illiterate, 4% had correct knowledge that sandfly bites caused kala-azar, 26% do not know any specific transmission agents for kala-azar. A majority (72%) of respondents were not able to recognize sandfly, 33% had no specific knowledge about the symptoms. All of them (100%) believed that this disease could affect his or her family income. Nearly all (95%) were positive that the kala-azar cases could be reduced with implementation of proper health measures. A few (11%) suggested isolation of patients to avoid contacting kala-azar while a high proportion (93%) of respondents favored specific allopathic medicine, and a majority (72%) favored the utilization of the services offered by primary health centers or government hospitals. Just over half (66%) of the respondents were not using any prevention measures to avoid contacting disease. These results could prove to be useful for health planners in developing suitable control strategies.
authors.affiliation: Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences (ICMR), Agam-Kuan, Patna, Bihar, India. niyamatalisiddiqui@yahoo.com
authors.forename: N A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Siddiqui
authors.forename: Narendra
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ranjan
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pandey
authors.forename: V N R
authors.initials: VN
authors.lastname: Das
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Verma
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Das
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D003140:Communicable Disease Control / Q000379:methods; D054626:Consumer Health Information / Q000379:methods; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D019353:Endemic Diseases; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006296:Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000469:parasitology; D007898:Leishmaniasis, Visceral / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000628:therapy* / Q000635:transmission; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011576:Psychodidae / Q000469:parasitology; D012424:Rural Population; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult