Volume 25, Issue 108, February, 2021

Knowledge, attitude and practice regarding dengue infection among Jazan inhabitants, Saudi Arabia 2019

Osama B Albasheer^1♦, Amani Osman Abdelmola², Abeer Alomaish³, Alanood Dallak³, Kawakeb Darraj³, Marwah hamzi³, Hanan Shawlan³, Shareefa Sumaily³, Marwah Gomairy³, Rana hakami³, Mohammed S Mahfouze⁴

¹Assistant professor of family medicine, department of family and community medicine, faculty of medicine, Jazan University, Jazan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
²Assistant professor of community medicine, department of family and community medicine, faculty of medicine, Jazan University, Jazan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
³Medical students, faculty of medicine, Jazan University, Jazan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
⁴Associate professor of Biostatistics, department of family and community medicine, faculty of medicine, Jazan University, Jazan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

^♦Corresponding author
Assistant professor of family medicine, department of family and community medicine, faculty of medicine, Jazan University, Jazan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Email: drosama802@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Dengue outbreaks are occurring in many countries of the world. Population awareness is fundamental for dengue prevention. The aim of this study was to assess the Knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) regarding dengue infection among Jazan inhabitants of Saudi Arabia. Methods: An observational cross-sectional survey was done on four hundred and forty (440) participants of primary health care attendants in Jazan Region, Saudi Arabia by a self-administered questionnaire in the period from July to October 2019. Results: The majority of the participants belonged to the age group of 25-34 years old (n= 318, 72.4%). There was significant variation in the level of knowledge and Age group of the participants (p-value 0.006). There were no significant variations in the level of knowledge and gender differences, educational level, housing condition and working status of the participants (p-value 0.204, 0.806, 0.057, 0.052 respectively). 89.6% of the participants considered dengue as a serious disease, 65.1% agreed that patients with dengue fever need to be isolated, 79.6% agreed that all patients with dengue can recover, and 69% agreed that dengue fever is a contagious disease. Conclusion: Knowledge was adequate with regard to dengue disease transmission, presentation and severity. However, there was limited practice in preventing the mosquito bites. Policy makers can formulate strategies to enhance knowledge and to translate knowledge into sound practice.

Keywords: Dengue fever; knowledge; practice; mosquitoes; vector control

Medical Science, 2021, 25(108), 337-346

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