A Study on Knowledge and Preventive Practices about Mosquito Borne Diseases in Delhi

Background: Mosquito-borne diseases constitute an important cause of morbidity and mortality, especially in India. Assessment of knowledge and practices of community about prevention of mosquito borne diseases is important for designing community-based interventions. Therefore, the study was carried out to assess such information. Materials and Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 350 adults selected by systematic sampling method in a rural and urban area in Delhi. Data was collected using pretested semi-structured questionnaire after taking written informed consent. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 17. Chi-square and Fisher′s Exact test was used for qualitative variables to find association and P 0.05 was considered significant. Results: One hundred and forty-two (67.6%) subjects in rural and 89 (63.6%) in the urban area were able to name at least one mosquito borne disease. Only small number of participants (from rural 28.1% and urban 18.6% areas) was aware of "fever with chills and rigor" as a symptom of malaria. Television was most common source of information in both rural and urban areas. Desert coolers were reported to be cleaned regularly in a week in 86.4% houses in a rural area, and 88.4% houses in the urban area. Potential breeding sites were significantly more in urban (n = 34, 24.3%) than rural (n = 13, 6.2%) houses (P = 0.01). Similarly actual breeding of mosquitoes was found significantly more in urban houses (n = 29, 20.7%) than rural houses (n = 14, 6.7%), which was statistically significant (P = 0.01). Knowledge about mosquito borne diseases was significantly associated with education status of the participants. Conclusion and Recommendation: Level of awareness was good; however mosquito breeding was occurring more in urban areas, which demands innovative mass media techniques to convey health messages to the public for prevention and control of mosquito borne diseases