Impact of School Health Education on Prevalence of Dengue Fever in Lucknow City, India

Abstract

Of the six vector-borne diseases prevalent in the country, dengue is the second largest cause of morbidity and mortality. The disease is widely prevalent in all parts of the country with variation in intensity including Uttar Pradesh, the largest state of India. Though the disease is known to be urban in nature, cases are being reported from rural areas too. Uttar Pradesh experienced a statewide outbreak of dengue in 2016 and reported 15033 cases and 42 deaths, of which 2772 cases (18.44% of the state) and 18 deaths (42.86% of the state) occurred in the district of Lucknow. The disease is tackled under the guidelines of the Directorate of the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP). Accordingly, source reduction and prevention from mosquito bites are the most important techniques in order to prevent the disease spread. Various means like pamphlets and posters containing signs and symptoms of the disease including source reduction and prevention from mosquito bites, written in simple language (Hindi), video clips etc. were used as health educational material. Selected secondary/junior schools were visited as per daily schedule during the month of July in 2017 and 2018, respectively. The sensitisation of the school children played a significant role in bringing down dengue morbidity by 83.73% and 74.74% and mortality by 88.89% and 94.44%, during 2017 and 2018, respectively in comparison to 2016, whereas the case fatality rate (CFR) declined from 0.65% in 2016 to 0.14% in 2018, as the school children along with their teachers played an important role in sensitisation towards the prevention of dengue, due to which they not only became actively involved but also communicated the required messages pertaining to the elimination of breeding sites and prevention from mosquito bites.