Knowledge, attitude and practice of Lassa fever prevention among adults in Bali Local Government Area, Taraba State, Nigeria.

INTRODUCTION

Lassa fever (LF), a public health problem of great importance endemic in West Africa, is an acute and sometimes fatal viral haemorrhagic disease which leads to mortality. The current study assessed the knowledge, attitude and practice of Lassa fever prevention among adults in Bali Local Government Area, Taraba State, Nigeria.

METHODS

Descriptive study design and Cross sectional study design was used for this study. A simple and systematic random sampling technique was used to draw samples of 399 participants for the study. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection after being validated and its reliability tested. The data collected was analysed using frequencies, percentage the hypotheses were tested using Data analysis was done using SPSS version 21, frequency, mean standard deviation, and chi square were performed to ascertain the value of the variables the hypotheses were tested using chi-square statistics at ≤ 0.05 level of significance.

RESULTS

Findings from the study revealed that 75% of the respondents had knowledge of the Lassa fever and the preventive practices. It was also shown that about 66.7% were aware of the varied preventive measures at their disposal. The study further shows that 56% had positive attitudes that could affect their practice of preventive measures of Lassa fever. The acceptability level according to this study was very high (89%) among the adults of Bali L.G.A in Taraba state.

CONCLUSIONS

The study therefore, recommends that there should be a call for educational intervention to improve the knowledge of Lassa fever among community members in Bali LGA this will help towards its preventive practices. This is based on the expectation that good knowledge of Lassa fever can reduce the rate and spread of the Infection.