Malaria and dengue: Knowledge, attitude, practice, and effect of sensitization workshop among school teachers as health educators

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Outbreaks of vector-borne diseases (VBDs) such as dengue and malaria can overwhelm health systems in resource-poor countries. Teachers can act as excellent educators by playing a key role of delivering important health education messages to school children and targeting an important health determinant – the health behavior. This study was done to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of school teachers regarding VBDs and the effect of a sensitization workshop on the same. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study done on 212 school teachers to know their KAP regarding dengue and malaria. They were also exposed to an intervention workshop after the pretest, and the gain in knowledge scores was compared. RESULTS: The mean age of respondents was 38.5 years and 57.5% of them were females. Participants had fairly good knowledge about dengue and malaria. More than 90% participants knew that mosquito bite is responsible for dengue and malaria. Around 75% of respondents were also aware of the symptoms of these diseases. The number of participants having a low, medium, and high pretest knowledge score (<50%, 50%–74%, and ≥75%, respectively) was 6.6%, 42.5%, and 50.9%, respectively. A significant improvement was seen in the knowledge score after the intervention workshop (χ(2) = 23.6, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Key success for mosquito-borne diseases control depends not only on services provided by Health Authority but also on knowledge, awareness, preventive practices, and early care-seeking behavior of the community. There is a need to know and improve existing knowledge and practice regarding mosquito-borne diseases and its control in community, especially with the collaboration of school teachers as health educators.