Effect of health education on community participation in control of dengue hemorrhagic fever in an urban area of Thailand.

Dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF), a disease transmitted by Aedes mosquitos, remains a serious public health problem in Thailand. This paper describes the effect of health education efforts on a community-based DHF vector control program in the municipality of Mae Sot District, Tak Province, northern Thailand, from 1988 through 1990. In 1988, public health education on DHF and larval control through mass media, lectures and discussions reduced the Aedes Breteau index from 241 in March to 126 in June 1988. In 1989 and 1990, twice a year house-to-house visits by trained health workers were added to the health education campaigns. Aedes larval indices were decreased far more in the epidemic year of 1990 than in 1989. During this 3-year period, water-storage containers for drinking, washing, bathing and ant-traps were the primary sources of larval habitats, accounting for about 90% of the total breeding places. Reduction of Aedes larvae in these sources was due to various larval control measures. By August 1990 water containers for non-drinking purposes were the remaining important breeding places. The introduction of larvivorous fish may be an effective method of larval control for these containers. Most houses were supplied by public piped water system; however, a shortage of piped water for a period of time resulted in a significant increase in the number of water containers. An adequate water supply to the community should be provided continuously to prevent creation of new breeding places. Modifying behavioral practices to reduce domestic man-made water containers should be encouraged.

A survey of knowledge, attitude and practice of the prevention of dengue hemorrhagic fever in an urban community of Thailand.

To evaluate the effect of a health education program on the prevention and control of dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) in the municipality of Mae Sot, Tak Province, a survey of adult residents, mainly housewives, was conducted in late April 1990 to assess their knowledge of DHF and practice of preventive methods. A total of 417 respondents from 417 households selected by a systematic-cluster sampling method were interviewed. More than 90% of them knew that the disease is transmitted by Aedes mosquitos and indicated water jars and water retention in the houses as the common breeding places. However, the other two common breeding places, ant-traps and cement baths, were less frequently mentioned. This finding was consistent with the greater proportion of respondents who reported no larval control methods for these two kinds of containers than for the others. Covering water containers was the most common practice to prevent mosquito breeding in drinking-water containers whereas addition of abate (temephos sand granules) or changing stored water frequently was commonly used for non-drinking water storage. Larval control for ant-traps was mainly accomplished by the addition of chemicals, including abate, salt, oil or detergent. Health education efforts in this area could induce the majority of respondents to accept themselves as responsible for the Aedes control program. Health education by health personnel played an important role in disseminating DHF information and prevention methods. Radio and television were the main effective mass media for public health education on DHF in this area.