title: Regional variation in pig farmer awareness and actions regarding Japanese encephalitis in Nepal: implications for public health education.
abstract: Japanese encephalitis (JE) is a mosquito-borne zoonotic disease that has pigs as the major amplifying hosts. It is the most important cause of viral encephalitis in people in Nepal and is spreading in its geographic distribution in that country. Pig farming is increasing in Nepal due to reducing cultural biases against pigs and government programs to support pig farming for poverty alleviation. Major strategies for JE prevention and control include education, vector control, and immunization of people and pigs. This study used a survey of 400 pig farmers in 4 areas of Nepal with different JE and pig farming histories to explore regional variations in farmer awareness and actions towards JE, the association of awareness and actions with farm and farmer variables, and the implications of these associations for public health education. Exposure to JE risk factors was common across pig farms and pig farming districts but there were significant district level differences in knowledge and practices related to on-farm JE risk reduction. Social factors such as literacy, gender, and cultural practices were associated with farmer attitudes, knowledge and practices for JE control. JE vaccine uptake was almost non-existent and mosquito control steps were inconsistently applied across all 4 districts. Income was not a determining factor of the differences, but all farmers were very poor. The low uptake of vaccine and lack of infrastructure or financial capacity to house pigs indoors or away from people suggest that farmer personal protection should be a priority target for education in Nepal. This study re-enforces the need to attack root causes of people's personal disease prevention behaviours and take into account local variation in needs and capacities when designing health or agriculture education programs.
authors.affiliation: National Zoonoses and Food Hygiene Research Centre, Kathmandu, Nepal.
authors.forename: Santosh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dhakal
authors.affiliation: National Zoonoses and Food Hygiene Research Centre, Kathmandu, Nepal.
authors.forename: Durga Datt
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Joshi
authors.affiliation: National Zoonoses and Food Hygiene Research Centre, Kathmandu, Nepal.
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ale
authors.affiliation: National Zoonoses and Food Hygiene Research Centre, Kathmandu, Nepal.
authors.forename: Minu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.affiliation: National Zoonoses and Food Hygiene Research Centre, Kathmandu, Nepal.
authors.forename: Meena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dahal
authors.affiliation: National Zoonoses and Food Hygiene Research Centre, Kathmandu, Nepal.
authors.forename: Yogendra
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.affiliation: National Zoonoses and Food Hygiene Research Centre, Kathmandu, Nepal.
authors.forename: Dhan Kumar
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Pant
authors.affiliation: Centre for Coastal Health, Nanaimo British Columbia, Canada and Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Craig
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stephen
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D000818:Animals; D001364:Awareness; D004664:Encephalitis Virus, Japanese / Q000502:physiology; D004672:Encephalitis, Japanese / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000458:organization & administration*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D022321:Japanese Encephalitis Vaccines / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D009032:Mosquito Control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009390:Nepal; D011203:Poverty; D012307:Risk Factors; D013552:Swine; D014611:Vaccination / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015047:Zoonoses
chemical_list: D022321:Japanese Encephalitis Vaccines