Saima Naz Gul, Farkhanda Ghafoor, Muhammad Aasim Jajja.
Knowledge, attitude and practices regarding dengue fever in Lahore, Pakistan.
Pak J Med Res Jan ;53(2):31-8.

Background: Dengue fever is a major public health problem whose epidemiology and ecology is strongly linked with human lifestyle and activities. Objectives: To identify the knowledge, attitude and practices about dengue fever in Lahore and identify the gaps between knowledge and practices. Subjects and Methods: On the basis of 154 existing Union Councils (9 towns and DHA) of Lahore, sample size of 800 houses was selected. One member over 18 years from each house was selected to give interview making 800 respondents. A proforma, was filled for each study participant after obtaining written informed consent. The information included knowledge, attitude and practices about dengue fever. The answers about knowledge and practices were marked with numbers. An aggregate of >70% was taken as sufficient, between 40-70 as moderate and <40 as insufficient. Results: About 98% of participants had heard of dengue fever. Though 67% respondents had sufficient knowledge about dengue but only 3.7% were actually practicing them. Preventive practices were predominantly focused on prevention of mosquito bites through using mosquito coils (70.4%) rather than eradication of mosquito breeding sites. Television (91%) was the major source of information about dengue fever. Conclusion: There was a major gap between having information and applying it and this needs to be addressed on priority to prevent future outbreaks of disease.

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