The health beliefs, dengue knowledge and control behaviors among internally displaced persons versus local residents in Kachin Special Region II, Myanmar

Dengue fever (DF) is one of main public health problems along the China-Myanmar border, however, data about DF is still lacking in Kachin Special Region II (KSR2), Myanmar. To understand health beliefs in general, and knowledge and treatment-seeking and prevention behaviors related to DF among the neglected population, the study was carried out by using a combination of quantitative household questionnaire surveys (HHSs) and qualitative semi-structured in-depth interviews (SDIs). The HHS questionnaire was administered to a total of 258 household heads. The 215 (83.3%) HHS respondents believed in Christianity and Catholicism. However, the 141 (54.7%,) of the total respondents thought that people with evil practices might be punished by diseases. More respondents believed that too rainy weather and water were more related to disease in the internally displaced person (IDP) camp than the local community (P<0.01). Most of the HHS respondents had sound knowledge of dengue symptoms, causes, vectors, transmission and prevention. The 257 (99.6%) HHS respondents reported that their families went to the public health facilities first to seek treatment. The 210 (84.1%) respondents reported that they turned containers upside down within five days. The key informants (n = 18) identified that the appropriate knowledge and behaviors were attributable to formal school education and specific health education campaign during the outbreak response in 2017, and that Kachin people enjoy conversing with each other, neighbors talked about the dengue information they received. The study results indicated that Kachin people have a good knowledge and behaviors of dengue control. The actual situation of dengue is still not clear due to lacking data of laboratory test. In the context of resources shortage, more international assistance is still needed to promote local dengue control and prevention efforts.