Public awareness of tropical diseases

Abstract

Introduction: Despite medical advances, the prevention and treatment of tropical diseases continue to be a current problem for communities.

Purpose: To present the public awareness of tropical diseases.

Material and method: The study was conducted by using an author's questionnaire. 158 questionnaires were collected and analysed.

Results: The study included women (55.7%) and men (44.3%) of varying ages, nearly half of whom were studying or are studying a medical profession. The analysis showed that 92.4% of the respondents were aware of the factors causing contagious and parasitic diseases. Only 5.0% of respondents expressed opposition to prevention when travelling to tropical countries. Every fourth person planning a trip would not go to a specialist on this issue. Nearly 90% of respondents wanted to be vaccinated before travelling. On the other hand, only 15.2% of respondents knew that malaria is not currently prevented by a vaccine, but by chemoprophylaxis. One in five respondents said there was no need for hygienic food consumption, while more than half (53.8%) had not heard of the rule "cook, steam, peel or forget". Among the most important preventive measures, respondents most often selected hand washing (50.6%), taking care of hygiene (20.2%) and immunization (17.8%).

Conclusions: Most of the respondents, especially those with medical education, demonstrated basic knowledge of tropical diseases. However, there is a great need for education, especially about visiting a doctor before travelling, types of prevention and methods of hygienic food consumption. The possibility of implementing programmes to supplement knowledge should be kept in mind.

Keywords: tropical diseases; contagious diseases; awareness; society.