Ahmed Sayid¹, Mohammed Husen², Firaol Bekele³*, Friat K/Maryam¹ and Desta Goshu⁴

¹College of Veterinary Medicine, Mekelle University, Tigray, Ethiopia
²Wollega University, College of Medical and Health Science School of Veterinary Medicine, Oromia, Ethiopia
³Haramaya University, College of Veterinary Medicine, Oromia, Ethiopia
⁴Dale Sadi District, Livestock and Fishery Office, Kellem Wollega Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia

*Corresponding Author: Firaol Bekele, Haramaya University, College of Veterinary Medicine, Oromia, Ethiopia.

Received: June 04, 2021; Published: July 07, 2021

Abstract

  To assess the community awareness, knowledge and practice towards rabies, a cross sectional study was conducted from November 2018 to December 2020 in Adigrat town, Tigray region, northern Ethiopia. Multistage sampling techniques was conducted for selection of sampling units and data were collected from 384 household through face to face interview using a semi structured and validated questionnaire. Chi square test was employed to assess the association of independent variable with knowledge; attitude and practices (KAP) score. Out of 384 participants interviewed, 50.3% were urban and 70.6% were male respondents. About 67.7% of participants were aware about rabies. However, there were misunderstanding about the causes, transmission and prevention of rabies. Overall KAP score revealed that 61.5% of the respondents had a good KAP, whereas 39.5% was found to have poor KAP score. During analysis of KAP with independent variables, chi square analysis revealed that KAP score was significantly (p=0.014) associated with gender being higher in males (65.3%) than females (51.8%), the association of education level with overall KAP about rabies revealed statically significant difference (p = 0.047), The respondent who were at secondary school education level were found to be better (57.5%) than illiterate (42.9%) in KAP score. KAP score was significantly (p =0.000), associated with occupation thus being higher in unemployed (77.7%) followed by government employed (76.6%). On the other hand poor KAP score were seen in house wives and the association of religion with overall KAP about rabies also revealed statistically significant difference (p = 0.000). Generally there is a difference among the society on the level of awareness and receptiveness of rabies to apply control measures among different group of respondents. Therefore, practicing standardized and strategic health procedures and increasing awareness of the community by training about the disease should be considered for controlling and preventing rabies..

Keywords: Adigrat; Assessment; Attitude: Knowledge; Rabies; Practices

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Citation

Citation: Firaol Bekele., et al. “Assessment of Community’s Knowledge, Attitude and Practice towards Prevention and Control of Rabies in and Around Adigrat Town, Tigray Regional State, Ethiopia". Acta Scientific Veterinary Sciences 3.8 (2021): 02-10.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2021Firaol Bekele., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.