Evaluation on effectiveness of health education for hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome among rural residents in endemic areas of Henan province

Abstract

Objective To investigate knowledge, attitudes and practice (KAP) toward prevention of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) among rural residents in endemic areas of Henan province, and to evaluate effectiveness of health education intervention. Methods According to incidence of in Zhengyang county in 2017, 4 towns with high incidence, relatively high incidence, general and low incidence, respectively, were selected using stratified sampling method. Three villages were randomly selected from each town, and 50 rural residents aged between 18 and 65 years old were randomly selected from each village. The demographic information of subjects and their KAP toward before and after health education were collected for comparison. Results Before and after intervention, 597 and 612 subjects were investigated, respectively. The awareness rate for the source of HFRS increased from 36.35% before intervention to 68.30% after intervention while awareness rate for contact with rat feces could cause infection increased from 36.52% to 62.09%. There were 77.45% of participants reported willingness to accept vaccine after intervention, comparing to 58.12% before intervention. The proportion of covering grains and keeping them away from ground and wall increased from 24.96% before intervention to 67.81% after intervention. The proportion of wearing masks and gloves when cleaning up debris, straws, wheat straws, etc. increased from 21.94% to 54.41%. Conclusions The health education can significantly improve KAP toward among residents in rural areas with high incidence of HFRS. Exploration further on strategies and measures should be done to improve coverage of health education and to promote change of behaviors. Key words: Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome; Health education; Knowledge; Attitude