To assess the knowledge and attitudes about dengue and practice of prevention followed by the residents of a rural area and an urban resettlement colony of East Delhi, an interview based cross sectional KAP study was undertaken in Jan 97 to Feb 97, a few months after the dengue epidemic in rural area and urban areas of East Delhi. A pre-structured and pre-tested format containing the relevant questions was administered to the subjects. A total of 687 subjects (334 rural and 353 urban) were interviewed. Nearly four fifth (82.3%) of these were aware of Dengue. Audiovisual media was the most common source of information in both the areas. Knowledge about the disease was fair to good. Fever was the commonest symptom of the disease known to 92% urban and 83% rural respondents followed by symptoms of bleeding and headache. Mosquito was known to spread the disease to 71% rural and 89% urban respondents. More than two third respondents in urban and two fifth in rural areas had used some method of mosquito control or personal protection during the epidemic.
PIP: This study evaluated the knowledge, attitude and practices concerning dengue and the practice of prevention in the rural and urban resettlement areas of New Delhi during January-February 1997, after the 1996 dengue epidemic. A pre-structured and pre-tested format was used by physicians to interview 334 rural and 353 urban residents (n = 687) who visited health centers. A high level of dengue awareness (87.3%) was observed among the respondents who can be attributed to the health education and information campaign of the audiovisual media and health care personnel. Knowledge about dengue was fair to good particularly among urban residents. 92% urban and 83% rural residents reported fever as the most common symptom, followed by bleeding and headache. About 71% rural and 89% urban respondents claimed mosquitoes as the source of the disease and used some method of mosquito control or protection during the epidemic. It has been suggested that prevention of dengue must start within the locality to ensure that the people are receptive to the messages and to make desired behavioral changes easier to adopt.