Evaluation of community knowledge and awareness of Leptospirosis among households, farmers and livestock keepers in Unguja, Zanzibar

Abstract

Little is known of the leptospirosis in Zanzibar. This study aims to assess the level of knowledge and awareness of leptospirosis among urban and peri-urban communities in Unguja. A cross-sectional study was conducted utilizing semi-structured questionnaires from January to April 2022. Two hundred respondents were randomly selected (130 males and 70 females) aged between 18 and 89 years). Descriptive analysis was performed to determine the main trends of the knowledge and awareness, while χ2 analysis was conducted to identify associations between demographic characteristics with respondents’ knowledge and awareness. The majority of the respondents (64%) were not aware of the etiology of leptospirosis.However, a high percentage of respondents had a favorable attitude (68.6%) towards leptospirosis compared to knowledge and awareness (35%) and practices (29.3%). However, there was low level of knowledge and awareness among the livestock keeper, farmers, fishermenand health care providers. The findings also demonstrated that males had a strong association with occupational physical activities, while educational level was associated with preventive practices. Living in urban or peri-urban appeared strongly associated with practice of the respondents. The results of this study showed a low level of community knowledge and awareness regarding the etiology, mode of transmission and signs of leptospirosis among livestock keeper, farmers, fishermen and health care providers. Although most respondents had a favorable attitude, their low level of knowledge and poor practices indicate that supplementing a positive attitude with enhanced knowledge and awareness is necessary to promote individual engagement in preventive measures.