ISSN: 2642-6250
Authors: Devagappanavar G*
Background: World Health Organization had estimated that about 1400 million people worldwide are infected with any one of the three kinds of intestinal helminths. They are a roundworm, hookworm and whipworm infestation. In that 200 million children suffer from diseases associated with these infestations. In India, 25 to 30 children’s were positive with hookworm. The poor standard of living includes improper disposal of faecal and other wastes, overcrowding, unhygienic health practices and poor environmental sanitation are the reasons for the worm infestation among the children. The worm infestation will cause due to unhygienic practices that’s why the Government of India started the National deworming day programme in 2015 with yearly two-phased observation to prevent the worm infestation. So in this study, we wanted to assess the knowledge about worm infestation among the service receiving children, servicing providing school teachers and civil society participation and cooperation. Objectives: Assessment of knowledge about worm infestation among School Children, school teachers and General population. To assess the health education impact on the study participants. Materials and Methods: A school-based cross-sectional intervention study was conducted to assessing the knowledge about worm infestation among the children, school teachers and general population using a pre-tested questionnaire. Systematic random sample, Universal sampling and convenient sampling technique were adapted to choose the students, teachers and community people respectively. The knowledge about worm infestation was assessed through pre-test and after providing the health education the Post-test was done using the same questionnaire for the same participants. Results: Among the school children in the pre-test have 51.36% and in the post-test, it is increased to 83.73 %. In the pretest 57.11% and the post-test, it is increased 92.17 % among the school teachers and the general population in the pre-test knowledge was 41.91 % and it increased to 88.16 % in the post-test.Conclusion: Though the government of India started the national deworming day program in 2015, the knowledge about worm infestation is below 60 percent in the studied population. This study proved that health education is the key to improve their knowledge about worm infestation.
Keywords: Worm Infestation; Knowledge; Pre-Test and Post-Test; Hygienic Practices; Intervention Study; Karnataka
