Community Knowledge, Attitude, Awareness and Protective Practices Regarding Malaria in Mewat and Rohtak Districts of Haryana, India

Aim: Mosquito borne diseases especially malaria is a serious public health problem in the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world especially the developing countries including India. Besides available key interventions to control the spread of vectors and vector borne diseases, there is a felt need for involving a suitable community approach based on knowledge, attitude, awareness, behaviour and protective practices to get the best results. Hence, the present study is an attempt to provide some inputs in this direction.
Methodology: A community based cross-sectional survey was carried out in a highly malaria endemic cluster of six selected villages of Rohtak and Mewat region of Haryana to know the respondent knowledge about malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases, as much as their attitude, awareness and practices regarding the malaria and its control. The results obtained were processed and analyzed statistically by using STATA version 10 software.
Results: The study revealed that about 52% of the respondents in Rohtak region and 42.68% in Mewat region committed that malaria is transmitted by mosquito bite which was directly correlated with the level of education. It was observed that high fever, chills and body pain were considered as the major signs/symptoms of malaria. Television followed by friends and relatives and health care provider’s acts as the major source of information about malaria and other mosquito borne diseases. Overall (76.2%) individuals from both study areas mentioned that malaria is a serious problem in their area but only 46.3% knew about various Government measures for the protection and treatment of malaria. Mosquito nets, mosquito coil and repellents were commonly used as protective practices by the respondents but the difference was not found significant except for mosquito net (P <0.05) in both the study areas.
Conclusion: Promoting active community participation by improving current intervention strategies through information, education and communication regarding malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases may yield better results.