Graduation course in Collective Health, Institute of Geography, Federal University of Uberlândia, Uberlândia, 38.400-902, Brazil.
Technical School of Health, Federal University of Uberlândia, Uberlândia, 38.400-902, Brazil.
Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2021 Jun 2;115(6):644-652. doi: 10.1093/trstmh/traa102.
In the last four decades, visceral leishmaniasis (VL) has undergone an urbanization process in Brazil. This research aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices concerning VL among residents of a sporadic transmission urban area in southeast Brazil.
A community-based, cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted. Scores for knowledge, attitudes and practices concerning VL were evaluated and the bivariate analysis was performed.
The analysis indicated that 29.9% had good knowledge, 5.2% had appropriate attitudes and 62.1% had appropriate practices. Notwithstanding that, pivotal practices for controlling VL had unsatisfactory individual frequencies. Good knowledge on VL was related to women, a higher level of education, a higher income, the place of residence and having pets. Appropriate attitudes were related to the place of residence. The practices had no significant associations with the sociodemographic and epidemiological variables.
This study demonstrated that even in the area of disease transmission, knowledge on VL is very limited, including at the most basic level. In order to achieve effectiveness in actions against VL in Brazil, the participation of the affected communities is imperative, therefore popular health education interventions are necessary to improve the population's understanding of the disease and to avoid inappropriate attitudes and practices.
在过去的四十年中，巴西内脏利什曼病（VL）经历了城市化进程。本研究旨在评估巴西东南部一个散发传播城市地区居民对 VL 的知识、态度和实践。
进行了一项基于社区的横断面定量研究。评估了 VL 的知识、态度和实践的得分，并进行了双变量分析。
分析表明，29.9%的人具有良好的知识，5.2%的人具有适当的态度，62.1%的人具有适当的实践。尽管如此，控制 VL 的关键实践个人频率并不令人满意。VL 的良好知识与女性、较高的教育水平、较高的收入、居住地和养宠物有关。适当的态度与居住地有关。实践与社会人口学和流行病学变量没有显著关联。
本研究表明，即使在疾病传播地区，VL 的知识也非常有限，包括最基本的知识。为了在巴西实现 VL 防治行动的有效性，受影响社区的参与是必要的，因此需要开展大众健康教育干预措施，以提高民众对该疾病的认识，避免不适当的态度和实践。
