కమ్యూనిటీ మెడిసిన్ & హెల్త్ ఎడ్యుకేషన్

నైరూప్య

Disease Occurrence and Socio-demographic Profile in Self-perceived Cases of Malaria in Fringe Areas of a Cantonment in India

Jayanti Acharya

Background: Fringe areas of cantonments may report less cases of Malaria due to availability, implementation and utilization of anti-malaria preventive and control measures in the cantonment. Methods: In the present study, an effort was made to find out as to what percentage of self-perceived cases is actually confirmed by a positive blood smear and their common socio-demographic profile. Study design and variables: House to house survey was carried out by the authors. The variables used were selfperceived and confirmed cases of Malaria, socio-demographic profile including duration of stay, location of residence, type of family, living status, age and sex distribution, marital status, education, occupation and social class. Results: Analysis was carried out with proportions. Of the 210 self-perceived cases, only 2 cases were confirmed by blood smear exam (0.95%, SPR 0.0137). The common socio-demographic profile that emerged was that of relatively young and educated persons from nuclear families in the middle social class who perceived their fever as malaria. Conclusion: There is a constant need for evaluating socio-demographic profile of fever cases in different communities and thus implement programmes to enhance awareness levels about communicable diseases like malaria and available anti-malarial services.