Knowledge about four communicable diseases in remote rural communities in Nepal Mr. Thadathil Boby Joseph Administrator, Rural Mobile Health clinic, NJS, Kathmandu, Nepal Online published on 30 December, 2014. Abstract Background The remote rural areas have less access to health care and education. This study was done to assess the awareness about 4 communicable diseases in remote rural Nepa. Material and Methods The study was conducted in 6 centres from December 2013 to July 2014. A total of 332 attendees at the mobile health outpatient clinics in 6 centres were interviewed in local dialects after obtaining their verbal consent. The questions were concerning the basic aspects about cause, mode of spread, presenting symptoms and methods of prevention of diarrhea, malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. The awareness levels were qualified as fully aware, partly aware and not aware depending on the answers given. The data was collated and levels of awareness were correlated with age, gender, educational status. The results are compared with published literature from Nepal and other developing countries. The percentage of respondents with full knowledge about diarrhea, malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS were 53.31, 26.81, 10.24 and 27.41 respectively. The awareness was lowest in the above 70 age group. There was a significant correlation between levels of education and awareness in all diseases. Although males had slightly higher awareness levels than females for all the 4 diseases, the difference was not significant. Despite good response to the measures by governmental and nongovernmental agencies in health education, awareness levels are low in certain pockets in remote rural areas in Nepal. Top |