ABSTRACT
It is well-known that public compliance with health directives is a prerequisite for an effective pandemic management and that individual beliefs, perceptions and knowledge are important factors in determining this compliance. To evaluate the level of people's knowledge and practice towards Influenza A [H1N1pandemic]. A descriptive cross-sectional study. Five commercial malls, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. Self-administered questionnaires which were distributed among 550 adults attending specific commercial malls in Eastern Province from 27th of June to 11th of July 2009. A total of 550 adults participated in this study. Five-hundred twenty-seven [95.8%] participants were Saudi and 286 [52%] were males. Five-hundred forty-seven [99.5%] participants heard about "swine flu". Five-hundred thirty-eight [97.8%] knew that this disease is transmissible to humans. Four-hundred eighty-six [88.4%] thought that the disease can be prevented. Three-hundred nine [56.2%] participants stated that there is a vaccine against the disease. Two-hundred thirty-six [42.9%] stated that they were washing their hands and the same figure stated that they were avoiding people with seasonal influenza symptoms. Moreover, only ninety [16.4%] stopped kissing and hugging friends and relatives and 68 [12.4%] stopped shaking hands. Although the knowledge of the people in Eastern Province in KSA about Influenza A [H1N1] was good, poor compliance with the government recommended preventive measures was noted. This study proved that there is a need for more efforts to encourage the public to undertake specific behaviours related to preventive measures of infectious diseases outbreaks