Knowledge and attitudes towards tea garden labour with special reference to tuberculosis of Dibrugarh district, Assam, India

2016-11-24T04-45-51Z
Source: International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health
Anand Sharma, Christ Forth Sangma.
Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is preventable and curable though it is a global burden which remains enormous. TB is one of the major public health problems in tea garden labour. Low level of knowledge and attitudes towards TB could affect the health-seeking behavior of patients and sustain the transmission of the disease within the community. Methods: A population based cross-sectional study was carried out to assess the knowledge, attitude of tea garden labour of Dibrugarh district, Assam, India. Results: 100 TB patients were interviewed in nine tea garden DOTS centre. Male and female distribution was 53% and 57% respectively. More than half of them were illiterate and 60 of them having 5-6 family size live in a congested environment. Chest pain i.e. 79% is the most common symptom experienced by the TB diagnosis which is followed by cough i.e. 76% and 33% were aware that it could spread through sneezing/cough. Tea garden hospital/tertiary centre was mentioned as a source of information about TB. Although most of them were positive about getting family support, 87% mentioned of separate utensils for food or drink and 88% got motivate by them to initiate treatment. Conclusions: Knowledge regarding mode of transmission, symptoms and etiology were not sound properly among the tea garden labour. They need proper awareness regarding cause, transmission, prevention, etc.


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