Knowledge and awareness of Neglected Tropical Diseases among senior medical students and intern doctors in Bangladesh

Abstract

Proper knowledge and awareness of healthcare professionals are imperative for the control and eradication of Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). The study aimed to measure the level of knowledge and awareness of medical students and intern doctors in Bangladesh to facilitate control strategies. Data were collected through an online questionnaire and ranked the participants by scoring their responses as one for correct and zero for wrong answers. Later, the rank of respondents was analyzed with the socio-demographic characteristics using the Chi-square and Fisher exact probability tests. Of the total 31.4%, (32.2% students and 29.8% interns) participants achieved a good score while 24.6% (24.5% students and 24.8% intern doctors) demonstrated poor rank. The geographical location of participants and previous experience of seeing any NTD patients were significantly associated (P = 0.001) with the level of knowledge and awareness. Most of them (76.4%) acknowledged participating in control activities of NTDs in Bangladesh and marked highly the importance of mass awareness (83.8%) and easy diagnostic facilities (71.2%). We advocate focusing on NTDs in the medical education curriculum and professional training especially on the common NTDs of Bangladesh to confirm the active involvement of these primary stakeholders in prevention and control programs.