AWARENESS AMONG BUTCHERS REGARDING CRIMEAN CONGO HEMORRHAGIC FEVER IN RAWALPINDI CANTT

Awareness Regarding Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever

Abstract

Objective: To study the awareness of butchers regarding Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) in relation to their education level.
Study Design: Cross sectional survey.
Place and Duration of Study: Conducted from January to March 2015 in Qasaiee Chowk and Tench Bhatta markets of ward 5 of Rawalpindi cantt.
Material and Methods: Sample size was calculated using G-Power sample size calculator at 95% confidence level with an effect size of 0.38. Ward 5 of Rawalpindi cantt was chosen through lottery method and all available professional butchers in the markets were interviewed with informed consent. A pre-tested 14 items closed ended questionnaire was used and interview was conducted by a well briefed team of medical students. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20.0.
Results: Results showed that only 14 (9.33%) butchers knew the name of CCHF. Out of these 10 (71.4%) had some form of formal education. All 14 of these had heard about CCHF from television proving it to be an important medium of information. However none of the 150 respondents took any preventive measure against CCHF.
Conclusion: Our study concluded that the level of awareness regarding CCHF in butchers is very low and no preventive measures are taken by them. Also the level of education has a significant effect on the awareness.