Abstract

Basic information on knowledge towards mosquito borne diseases is crucial to establish a progressive track on its prevention to defeat the challenges faced by epidemic breakdowns.

Objective: To evaluate the knowledge of healthcare profession students regarding Chikungunya, the Aedes Aegypti borne disease.

Method: A cross sectional, observation study was conducted in a private university, Kedah state, Malaysia among medical, pharmacy and dentistry students through convenience sampling using pre-validated questionnaire. The data was collected after taking written informed consent forms.

Results: A total of 636 healthcare students participated in the study with a response rate of 68%. Most of the respondents (93%) were aged 21to23 years, more than half (63%) were females, three-forth (78%) were Chinese and nearly half (44%) were from medical faculty and 38% from year three education. Overall, only 85 participants (13%) scored good knowledge score, whereas 283 participants (45%) scored moderate and 268 (42%) participants scored poor knowledge score towards Chikungunya virus. There was a statistically significant association observed among the field of study [X2 (4, N = 636) =12.235, p =.016*] and year of study [X2(4, N=636)=42.013, p<.001] category respectively towards knowledge score. Among the participants’, the knowledge score of Chikungunya showed better scores in the age group of 18-20 (20%) with females (15%), Chinese (15%), pharmacy students (19%) and year 2 (25%) students showing better knowledge scores.

Conclusion: Overall, the healthcare students in AIMST University showed moderate knowledge score towards chikungunya however, educational intervention programmes can further enrich their knowledge in the prevention and management of these deadly infections.

Keywords

knowledge, mosquito borne diseases, aedes aegypti, healthcare, chikungunya, patients, infection