Abstract
Background: Japanese encephalitis (JE) is a mosquito-borne disease with high case fatality and no specific treatment. Little is known about the community's (especially parents/guardians of children) awareness regarding JE and its vaccine in Yangon region, which bears the highest JE burden in Myanmar. Methods: We conducted a community-based cross-sectional study in Yangon region (2019) to explore the knowledge and perception of parents/guardians of 1-15 year-old children about JE disease, its vaccination and to describe JE vaccine coverage among 1-15 year-old children. We followed multi-stage random sampling (three stages) to select the 600 households with 1-15 year-old children from 30 clusters in nine townships. Analyses were weighted (inverse probability sampling) for the multi-stage sampling design. Results: Of 600 parents/guardians, 38% exhibited good knowledge of JE , 55% perceived JE as serious in children younger than 15 years and 59% perceived the vaccine to be effective . Among all the children in the 600 households, the vaccination coverage was 97% (831/855). Conclusion: In order to reduce JE incidence in the community, focus on an intensified education program is necessary to sustain the high vaccine coverage in the community.
Highlights
Japanese encephalitis (JE) is a zoonotic disease caused by Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV)
Grant information: This research was conducted through the Structured Operational Research and Training Initiative (SORT IT), a global partnership led by the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases at the World Health Organization (WHO/TDR)
Assuming a non-response rate of 5% and a design effect of 1.5, the final sample size was 600 households with children (1–15 years old) We used the conservative assumption of 50% prevalence as there is no previous data on community awareness and vaccination coverage in Yangon region and 5% non-response rate based on field experience
Summary
Grant information: This research was conducted through the Structured Operational Research and Training Initiative (SORT IT), a global partnership led by the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases at the World Health Organization (WHO/TDR). The specific SORT IT programme which resulted in this publication was jointly organized and implemented by The Centre for Operational Research, The Union, Paris, France; Department of Medical Research, Ministry of Health and Sports, Yangon; Department of Public Health, Ministry of Health and Sports, Nay Pyi Taw; The Union Country Office, Mandalay, Myanmar; The Union South-East Asia Office, New Delhi, India and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
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