KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE REGARDING PREVENTIVE MEASURES AMONG PILGRIMS DURING HAJJ, MADINAH, KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA, 2016

Background: The transmission of infectious disease during huge gathering such annual Hajj pilgrimage its very high and there is a huge effort done by the government of Saudi Arabia to reduce the risk of infectious diseases during Hajj. Objective: The aim of this study is to assess the Knowledge and the attitude of the most important preventive measures taken among pilgrims and to measure the awareness of being vaccinated by different vaccine to reduce the risk of the transmission of variant disease . Methods: Analytical cross sectional study was conducted among pilgrims during 2016 in Almadinah , Saudi Arabia . Data were collected using self-administrated questionnaire tool Including a total of 22 questions. Results: Data was collected from 457 Hajj pilgrims, 216 of the respondents were female while 241 were male. The results shows that the majority of the pilgrims follow the preventive measurements including; washing hands after meals and touching dirty surfaces 93.4 % ,washing hands after using public facilities 91.5%, Wearing face mask 60.4% and washing fruits and vegetables before eating them 94.5% . Most of the participants were vaccinated 84.5% while 15.5% they weren’t vaccinated. The majority of the pilgrims 61.5% received meningococcal vaccination and 46.8% received influenza vaccine .Regarding the best methods to educate society , the majority respond that radio and TV29.3% were the best method followed by school and universities18.8%. Conclusion: This study shows that pilgrims had adequate knowledge and attitude regarding the standard protective measures that enabling them to protect themselves during hajj against variant infectious disease. There are significant opportunities to improve awareness among Hajj pilgrims about the importance of using preventive health measures through educating programme in radio , TV , school and universities . Keywords: Preventive Measures, Infectious disease, Pilgrims, Hajj