title: Predictors of knowledge towards malaria of rural tribal communities in Dhalai District of Tripura, India.
abstract: Reduction of malarial morbidity and mortality is one of the top public health priorities in Tripura and the Country. To achieve these targets it is imperative to have active community participation to control malaria. Community participation in turn depends on people's knowledge and attitude towards the disease. This study was conducted to examine the factors that predict the knowledge of rural tribal communities in Dhalai district of Tripura towards malaria. This community based epidemiological cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out in Dhalai district of Tripura. A pre-tested structured questionnaire collecting socio-demographic and malaria-related KAP information was administered to the 216 adult respondents from a representative sample of households. As a whole, there were 147(68.1%) illiterate respondents. Out of them, 89(41.2%) persons were male and 58(26.9%) were female. Correct knowledge about the cause of malaria was 2.77 times higher in males than females and 11.53 times higher in literate tribal people than in illiterate. Correct knowledge about the symptoms fever, chills, and rigors of malaria were also higher in male sex and in literate tribal people. Use of smoke as preventive measure was very high among the respondents. Common predictors of correct knowledge about etiology and clinical features of malaria were in male Tripuri and Reang community. Use of smoke for killing of adult mosquito was predicted by illiteracy. Promotion of literacy and participation in health education are vital component in terms of knowledge and practice.
authors.affiliation: Dr Shishir Kumar, Assistant Professor (Biostatistics), Department of Community Medicine, Agartala Government Medical College, Agartala, India.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Debbarma
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D019359:Knowledge; D008288:Malaria / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012424:Rural Population