Knowledge, attitudes, practices (KAP) and control of rabies among community households and health practitioners at the human-wildlife interface in Limpopo National Park, Massingir District, Mozambique

Abstract

Background Rabies is a viral zoonotic disease that kills more than 26,000 people each year in Africa. In Mozambique, poverty and inadequate surveillance result in gross underreporting and ineffective control of the disease in animals and people. Little is known of the role of human attitudes and behaviour in prevention or control of rabies, thus this study was undertaken to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices amongst selected households and health practitioners in one affected area, the Limpopo National Park (LNP), Massingir district. Methodology A cross-sectional study was conducted among 233 households in eight villages in LNP and among 42 health practitioners from eight health facilities in Massingir district between 2016 and 2018. Consenting household representatives aged 18 years or over were purposively selected. A KAP survey was administered to obtain information on dog ownership and knowledge of rabies, host species affected, modes of transmission, symptoms, recommended treatment and preventive methods. Similar to household study participants, health practitioners were purposively selected and completed the questionnaire during the investigators’ visit. The questionnaire sought information on knowledge of rabies, management of bite wounds, vaccination sites and schedules of pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis. Descriptive and inferential data analyses were performed using SPSS software version 18.0. Results Approximately twenty per cent (18.9%; 95% CI: 14.3–24.3) and 13.3% (95% CI: 9.4–18.1) of households had good knowledge and practices of rabies, respectively. For health practitioners, only 16.7% (95% CI: 7.5–31.9) had good knowledge, whilst 33.3% (95% CI: 20.0–49.7) adopted adequate attitudes/practices towards the disease. Conclusions/Significance In conclusion, both households and health practitioners displayed poor levels of knowledge and adopted bad attitudes and practices towards rabies. The former, had more gaps in their attitudes and practices towards the disease. Village location and education level (P < .05) and similarly, sex and occupation, were found to be statistically associated with good knowledge of rabies among households as compared to HPs. Overall, a lack of community-based education and professional retraining courses contribute significantly to poor awareness of rabies in the LNP of Mozambique. Enhancing public health knowledge should consequently reduce dog-mediated human rabies deaths in this country.

Households’ Practices towards Rabies Prevention and Control in Rural Nepal

“…Our study findings that most of the respondents keep pet animals (dogs/cats) in their houses for guarding and companionship is in contrast to a study in Mozambique where the main reason for keeping such pet animals was to protect crops from the attack of monkeys (68.8%) [18]. The finding that the majority of respondents confined their pets indoors or in a cage resonates with a study in India [14] where 84% of dogs were confined, but it is in contrast to that of Ethiopia where dogs were left free [19].…”

“…The number of reported rabies deaths has been fluctuating. According to DHS, in Nepal [7], 18 Several institutions are involved and several activities have been initiated for rabies prevention and control in Nepal [8]; however, not much is known about their effectiveness. In the human health field, the Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital under the Ministry of Health has a specialized unit for the diagnosis and treatment of rabies or rabies suspected cases.…”

Rabies in a postpandemic world: resilient reservoirs, redoubtable riposte, recurrent roadblocks, and resolute recidivism

“…Others are more pathogen specific (Table 1 ). As a disease related to poverty, individuals, such as children, may not fundamentally understand how rabies is acquired or may not appreciate its severity (Laorujisawat et al 2022 ; Mapatse et al 2022 ; Zucca et al 2021 ). Even if a bite is reflected as a risk factor for disease acquisition, less serious or nonbite exposures may be ignored or not be recognized, such as related to bats, even in highly developed countries (Holzbauer et al 2023 ; Ma et al 2023 ).…”

Geographic distribution of laboratory-confirmed cases of rabies in domestic and wild animals based on passive surveillance records in Uganda: 2015-2022

“…However, the domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris) usually acts as the most common domestic host and the primary source of infection for humans and animals, being responsible for nearly 95% of the fatal human rabies cases in humans [6]. Although rabies lethal threat remains a community tragedy, it is highly preventable through appropriate vaccination and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) [7]. The disease continues to create a signi cant social and economic burden in many countries worldwide, particularly in low-and mediumincome countries [8,9].…”