Assessment of community knowledge, attitude and practice on milk borne zoonoses disease in Debre- Birhan town, north Shewa, Ethiopia

Abstract

A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted in Debre-Birhan town, North shoa, Ethiopia, with the objectives of assessing the knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) of the study participants with respect to milk borne zoonoses; and to determine the effect of demographic character of respondents on knowledge, attitude and practice of zoonotic diseases. Data were collected from the respondents through administering semi-structured questionnaire across the randomly selected collection centers, retailers, consumers and smallholder dairy farmers of the towns. The questionnaire was administered to 230 respondents (5 milk collection centers, 100 consumers, 40 retailers and 85 smallholder dairy farms). The study result showed that 63.5% of the respondents from the total study population knew diseases can be acquired through consumptions of raw cow milk, 61.3% of respondents did not know the names of milk borne zoonotic diseases, and 50.9% of the respondents' forms of milk preference were raw milk. Of the total respondents, 35.2% had no idea of prevention of milk borne zoonotic diseases. In this study, 92.2% of the respondent did not get formal training on zoonotic diseases. Statistically there was strong association between educational level and KAP of the respondents on milk borne zoonosis, (p<0.05). There was statistically significance difference (p<0.05) on KAP of milk borne zoonosis of the respondents between urban and peri-urban areas. In the current study, the study population has low level of awareness regarding milk borne zoonoses. One way to approach this problem would be to develop educational outreach programs for dairy producers, and public at large, that focuses on issues related to the preventions of consumption of raw milk and milk borne zoonoses.

Lay attitudes and misconceptions and their implications for the control of brucellosis in an agro-pastoral community in Kilombero district, Tanzania

“…Men too, have a greater role in treating sick livestock and thus have access to insights on livestock diseases which could explain why they are more likely to have better knowledge on brucellosis. These findings correspond to other studies which have shown a variable effect of age, gender and formal education on knowledge of brucellosis [44][45][46][47]. Here it was also found that adherence to culture was a stronger driver for engaging in behavior risking transmission, than formal education.…”

Hygienic knowledge and practices of milk vending machine handlers in the informal settlements of Nairobi, Kenya

“…The level of knowledge on hygiene among milk vending machine handlers in this study was relatively low at a mean percentage of 68.83. In comparison with similar studies (Mandefero & Yeshibelay, 2018), milk handlers had poor scores on overall food safety knowledge, personal hygiene, and temperature control. This is attributed to a lack of adequate training on milk hygiene knowledge among handlers.…”

Why knowledge is the best way to reduce the risks associated with raw milk and raw milk products

“…The results suggest that the use of narrative messages can promote healthy behaviour even when cultural norms are contrary to best health practices (Caudell et al ., 2019). In low income and/or developing countries there is a strong association between educational level and the knowledge of the population on milk borne zoonosis (Mandefero and Yeshibelay, 2018). These regions face challenges to increase the educational level of the whole population, and consequently reduce the incidence of diseases assocaited with raw milk consumption (Kumar et al ., 2017).…”