Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease that causes thousands of deaths in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is one of the high-risk countries among 30 high TB burden countries. In this study, we aimed to assess the knowledge, practices, attitudes towards TB, and the factors associated with them in the general population of Bangladesh.
Method: A web-based anonymous cross-sectional survey was conducted among the general population in Bangladesh. A comprehensive consent statement was included at the beginning of the survey by explaining the study's intent, types of questions, anonymous and voluntary nature. Analysis was carried out using the chi-square test and univariate and multivariate logistic regression.
Results: Among 1,180 eligible respondents, 58.64% were males, and 62.37% were married. The majority of the participants (78.28%) were aged between 15 to 44 years. Overall adequate knowledge, favorable attitudes, and good practices about TB were found respectively in 47.8%, 44.75%, and 31.19% of the general population of Bangladesh. Almost the same sets of associated factors were found to influence adequate knowledge, favorable attitudes, and good practices towards TB among general people. Males, young, unmarried, respondents with higher education, and urban respondents were more likely to have adequate knowledge, favorable attitudes, and good practices towards TB.
Conclusion: Policymakers need to design programs and interventions to improve knowledge, attitudes, and good practices towards TB among the general people by focusing on vulnerable groups such as females, young and older people, people who live in the rural areas, and illiterate/less educated people.