Prevalence of Kala-Azar and Its Contributing Factors Among Rural Population in Selected Community of West Bengal

Background: Kala-azar is a serious form of leishmaniasis. It is a long-term infectious disease. The study was aimed to assess the prevalence of Kala-azar, and it’s contributing factors among the rural population. Methods: In this retrospective study population was previously treated Kala-azar patients (Visceral Leishmaniasis and Post Kala-azar Dermal Leishmaniasis) from 2017 to 2021. The settings were villages under Kushmondi and Harirampur Rural Hospital under Dakshin Dinajpur. 90 samples were selected through Non-Probability Purposive sampling technique. Demographic data were collected by applying Semi structured interviewed schedule. Record analysis format was used to identify the prevalence of Kala-azar and the disease profile. An observational checklist and structured interview schedule were used to assess the contributing factors of Kala-azar. Results: Maximum prevalence of Kala-azar (1.4%) seen in the year 2017. There were statistically significant mean differences among the contributing factors as the ANOVA test calculated F-value (2507.18) is higher than table value of F (2.60) with df (3, 356) at 0.05 level of significance. Environmental factors contributed more than other factors as the mean value (13.00) was more than other factors. There is a statistically significant relation between environmental factor with utilization of services, economic factors with socio- cultural factors & utilization of services, as well as socio- cultural factors with utilization of services as the p-value is <0.05, at 0.05 level of significance. There was a statistically significant association between contributing factors and selected demographic variables like age, gender as the calculated value of chi square 7.391 and 4.888 is higher than table value c² (df)2=5.99 p ,c² (df)1=3.84 p <0.05 at 0.05 level of significance. Conclusion: The study has implications in nursing practice through the awareness of the rural population about the contributing factors of Kala-azar. The study concluded that the trends of prevalence were decreasing in nature and the environmental factors contributed more than other factors. Keywords: Prevalence, Kala-azar case, Environmental factors, Economic factors, Socio- cultural factors & Utilization of services.