Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude, and Preventive Practices Towards Dengue Fever Among the Community in Qardho District

Abstract

Dengue fever is caused by a virus belonging to the Flaviviridae family, which is spread by Aedes eypti mosquitoes and is the most rapidly spreading mosquito-borne viral disease in the world. The objectives of this study were to assess knowledge, attitude, and preventive practices towards dengue fever among the community in the Qardho district. A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted by using a structured questionnaire. A sample size of 384 participants was selected, and face-to-face interviews through structured questionnaires were done between August and November 2023. Although 77.2% of the respondents had heard about dengue fever, the study found that Qardho residents had poor knowledge of the disease. Only 27.6% of the respondents recognised the agent causing dengue fever as a virus. About 40% of them thought that mosquitoes were responsible for the disease. Further, only 7% of them maintained that clean water and clean water holding containers might be breeding sites for mosquitoes. Taken together, 73.8% of the respondents had poor knowledge. Despite their poor knowledge, circa 52% of the participants had good attitudes towards dengue-suspected patients, and most of them (71.9%) took preventive measures against the disease. Most of the respondents (43.6%) used mosquito nets. This preventive practice might be due to their prior awareness that mosquitoes are vectors for another serious illness, malaria. Most of the residents in the Qardho district had poor knowledge about dengue fever, the agent causing the disease, its mode of transmission, breeding sites of the vector, treatment, and biting behaviour. The study suggests there is a need to increase health education activities, such as awareness campaigns and mass media, to enhance knowledge about dengue fever. Also, community awareness of vector control plays an important role in disease prevention and control