Abstract
Respiratory tract infection (RTI) is a major public health challenge during the Muslim pilgrimage to Makkah. This study aims to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice of Malaysian Hajj and Umrah pilgrims towards the prevention of RTIs in 2018 and determine correlations among three domains. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 225 Umrah and Hajj pilgrims. Knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) towards RTI prevention was assessed by using a validated self-administered questionnaire among pilgrims attending a weekly orientation course organized by private Hajj/Umrah companies. Out of 225 participants, 65.9% of respondents were female with the mean (SD) age of 46.74 (13.38) years. The interquartile range (IQR) score for knowledge is 18.0 (6.0), the mean scores of attitude and practice are 32.65 (4.72) and 25.30 (4.9). respectively. Significant and negative linear correlations between knowledge and practice (r = −0.232, p < 0.001), and attitude and practice (r = 0.134, p = 0.045) were observed. Results from the current study showed good knowledge of RTIs among Malaysian pilgrims. However, a poor attitude was reflected in their preventive practice behaviors. This will further help in the prevention and management of RTIs during Hajj and Umrah. Therefore, an extensive educational health campaign should be provided to pilgrims to create awareness.
Highlights
The Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia is among the five pillars of the religion of Islam and is obligatory to each financially and able-bodied Muslim to perform it at least once in a lifetime.Umrah, known as Lesser Hajj, can be performed at any time of the year and is not obligatory
This study is aimed to evaluate knowledge, attitude and practice regarding the prevention of respiratory tract infection and to explore the relationship between the demographic variables and knowledge, attitude and practice scores among 2018 Malaysian Hajj and Umrah pilgrims
The result reaffirms a weak correlation between knowledge, attitude, and practice with respiratory tract infections KAP scores. This current study, which is believed to be the first of its kind among Malaysian Hajj and Umrah pilgrims sought to assess their KAP towards prevention of Respiratory tract infection (RTI)
Summary
The Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia is among the five pillars of the religion of Islam and is obligatory to each financially and able-bodied Muslim to perform it at least once in a lifetime. Known as Lesser Hajj, can be performed at any time of the year and is not obligatory. This pilgrimage attracts millions of worshippers for Umrah and about two to three million people from various countries across the globe converge for the yearly Hajj rituals [1]. The official Hajj quota for Malaysian pilgrims stands at 30,200 based on the report from the Malaysian Hajj Fund [2]. Public Health 2019, 16, 4569; doi:10.3390/ijerph16224569 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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