Year: 2017 | Month: December | Volume 7 | Issue 6
A Community Based Survey on Rabies Control and Prevention using KAP in Jammu, India
Abstract:
As per revised estimate nearly 20,583 people die of rabies every year in India, contributing to one third of the global rabies burden. Community based surveys with respect to Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP) are important both for human deaths due to rabies and for the effective control of disease in animals. The present cross-sectional survey was carried to investigate level of community knowledge as well as attitudes and perception about rabies in and around Jammu, North India. A total of 200 respondents in the age group of 18 to 29 (55%) years were interviewed using pre-tested and structured questionnaires. Location wise origin of the respondents was 130 (65%) from urban and 70 (35%) from rural areas and sex-wise 157 (76%) males and 48 (24%) were females. Dog owners and being urban respondents had good knowledge level and attitude towards rabies compared to non-dog owners and rural dwellers. Surveyed population with 77.8 and 77 percent had heard of rabies and believed it to be fatal respectively. Urban respondents (98.9 %) believed rabies to be fatal and was transmitted by dogs or other species, 94 percent believed that owned dog must receive rabies vaccine, 89 to 94 percent believed reporting to hospitals or higher authorities regarding dog bite and outbreak of rabies in a community whereas 78 percent believed in killing stray dog if rabies was suspected. Good practices prevailed in respondents that owned dogs. The knowledge, attitude and practices with respect to prevention and treatment of rabies were not found adequate amongst the rural population. Thus, community based health education becomes essential in these areas to create awareness regarding rabies.
© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
Print This Article Email This Article to Your Friend
