Knowledge, attitude and practices related to dengue in rural and slum areas of Delhi after the dengue epidemic of 1996
Gupta, P.; Kumar, P.; Aggarwal, O.P.
Journal of Communicable Diseases 30(2): 107-112
1998
ISSN/ISBN: 0019-5138 PMID: 9914677 Document Number: 493286
This study evaluated the knowledge, attitude and practices concerning dengue and the practice of prevention in the rural and urban resettlement areas of New Delhi during January-February 1997, after the 1996 dengue epidemic. A pre-structured and pre-tested format was used by physicians to interview 334 rural and 353 urban residents (n = 687) who visited health centers. A high level of dengue awareness (87.3%) was observed among the respondents who can be attributed to the health education and information campaign of the audiovisual media and health care personnel. Knowledge about dengue was fair to good particularly among urban residents. 92% urban and 83% rural residents reported fever as the most common symptom, followed by bleeding and headache. About 71% rural and 89% urban respondents claimed mosquitoes as the source of the disease and used some method of mosquito control or protection during the epidemic. It has been suggested that prevention of dengue must start within the locality to ensure that the people are receptive to the messages and to make desired behavioral changes easier to adopt.