Cutaneous leishmaniasis–Awareness, knowledge and practices among general population in rural and urban areas in Malakand region, Pakistan

• Autor(a) principal: Khan,W.
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Khan,I., Ullah,H., Zain,S. N. M., Panhwar,W. A., Mehmood,S. A., Ahmed,S., Siyal,G. B., Ahmad,M.S., Shah,M., Rafique,T., Ali,N., Salim,M., Hussain,A.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Brazilian Journal of Biology
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1519-69842022000100126
• topic: oriental sore; local knowledge; leishmaniasis; sand flies; preventive measurement

Abstract Malakand region is an endemic area for cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL). However, there are limited number of studies of this disease in Pakistan. Therefore, a study was conducted to understand the level of awareness attitude and practice among the residents of Makaland towards CL and the disease vectors. This study adopted a cross-sectional approach with a total of 400 respondents (n=93 rural and n= 307 urban). Overall, the population in Malakand region (61.2%) were well-informed in the role of sand fly in transmitting diseases, but most lack knowledge on the vector’s behavior and almost a quarter (24.5%) were unable to provide knowledge on proper control measures. Alarmingly, the practice and attitudes of the general population was not satisfactory as close to half (49.8%) of the population did adopt any control method. This study calls for increase in awareness through health education campaign to reduce the risk of cutaneous leishmaniasis outbreaks in the future.