Correlation Between Knowledge, Attitude and Practice towards Malaria in Khuzdar Garrison and Surrounding Areas: A Cross-Sectional Study

Objective: To find correlation between knowledge, attitude and practice of malaria in troops and to identify any significant factors associated with them. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Pathology department, Combined Military Hospital, Khuzdar Pakistan from Nov 2019-Oct 2020. Methodology: Troops admitted with malaria, stationed in Khz Garrison and operational areas were included. Descriptive statistics were used for patients’ demographic profile and Mann-Whitney U-test was used for inferential statistics. Spearman’s rho correlation was used to find out correlation between study variables. The data were analyzed using SPSS 20.0. Results: A total of 203 troops (all males) with confirmed diagnosis of malaria were enrolled. Age of participants ranged from 20-48 years, with a mean of 30.49+6.45years. Troops deployed in Khuzdar, operational areas and those returning from leave were 124(61.1%), 59(29.1%) and 20(9.9%) respectively. There was no significant correlation found between knowledge-attitude (r=-0.025, p=0.725), knowledge-practice (r=0.049, p=0.485) and attitude-practice (r=0.034, p=0.631). The mean attitude score (mean =31.5) of troops of services was higher than the mean score (median=29.5) of other arms. There was significant association of practice with respect to area of deployment with low practice in operational areas (p<0.001). Conclusion: All troops had adequate knowledge about malaria. Troops of services’ arms had a better attitude towards malaria. Targeted interventions towards malaria prevention in operational areas should be enhanced.