Abstract
Background: Human rabies, often contracted through dog bites, is a serious but neglected public health problem in the tropics, including Ghana. Due to its high fatality rate, adequate knowledge and vaccination of domestic dogs against the disease are very crucial in reducing its burden. We examined dog owners’ knowledge level on rabies and factors that influenced anti-rabies vaccination of dogs in the Upper East Region of Ghana. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 260 randomly sampled dog owners in six communities from six Districts using a multistage sampling technique, in the Upper East Region of Ghana. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents. Descriptive and inferential analyses were done using STATA 14.1. Results: While knowledge about rabies was 199 (76.5%), that about anti-rabies vaccination was 137 (52.7%). District of residence (χ2 = 112.59, p < 0.001), sex (χ2 = 6.14, p = 0.013), education (χ2 = 20.45, p < 0.001) as well as occupation (χ2 = 11.97, p = 0.007) were significantly associated with rabies knowledge. District of residence (χ2 = 57.61, p < 0.001), Educational level (χ2 = 15.37, p = 0.004), occupation (χ2 = 11.66, p = 0.009), religion (χ2 = 8.25, p = 0.016) and knowledge on rabies (χ2 = 42.13, p < 0.001) were also statistically associated with dog vaccination against rabies. Dog owners with good knowledge on rabies for instance, were more likely to vaccinate their dogs against rabies compared to those with poor knowledge [AOR = 1.99 (95% CI: 0.68, 5.86), p = 0.210]. Dog owners with tertiary level of education were also 76.31 times more likely (95% CI: 6.20, 938.49, p = 0.001) to have good knowledge about rabies compared to those with no formal education. Conclusions: Dog owners in the Upper East Region of Ghana had good knowledge about rabies. This, however, did not translate into correspondingly high levels of dog vaccination against the disease. Rabies awareness and vaccination campaigns should, therefore, be intensified in the region, especially among the least educated and female dog owners.
Highlights
Dog bites are considered a public health concern worldwide as they cause physical injury, psychological trauma, post-traumatic stress, and sometimes death resulting from rabies infection [1,2].Rabies, a neglected tropical disease, is a neuro-invasive disease caused by Rhabdovirus, commonly transmitted from the saliva of some infected warm-blooded animals such as domestic dogs and cats, through bites or other forms of contact [3,4]
Even though not statistically significant, dog owners with good knowledge on rabies were more likely to vaccinate their dogs against rabies compared to those with poor knowledge [AOR = 1.99, p = 0.210]
The high level of knowledge we observed could be attributed to the fact that since the Upper East Region is a region where dogs are openly sold on the market for human consumption [15], a lot of the population was probably familiar with domestic dogs, including diseases like rabies that could be contracted from their handling and consumption
Summary
Dog bites are considered a public health concern worldwide as they cause physical injury, psychological trauma, post-traumatic stress, and sometimes death resulting from rabies infection [1,2].Rabies, a neglected tropical disease, is a neuro-invasive disease caused by Rhabdovirus, commonly transmitted from the saliva of some infected warm-blooded animals such as domestic dogs and cats, through bites or other forms of contact [3,4]. As a result of erratic rabies prevention strategies; inconsistent rabies prevention measures, rabies cases peaked up again by the year 2016, where 64 human rabies cases were recorded [10] This is because the Ghana government embarked on a campaign to vaccinate dogs against rabies across the country [11] the campaign was not sustained and has been stopped since 1994 due to lack of sustainable funding and support. There is no documented standardized pricing for anti-rabies vaccination of dogs in Ghana, information from the veterinary division of the Ministry of Agriculture revealed that a shot of anti-rabies vaccine can cost up to $4 per dog This places huge financial burden on dog owners, especially in a country where 23.4% of the population live on less than $1 a day [13]. Rabies awareness and vaccination campaigns should, be intensified in the region, especially among the least educated and female dog owners
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