Abstract

A cross-sectional study was conducted at Sabon-Birni and its sub-communities in Igabi Local Government area of Kaduna state to assess the knowledge, attitudes and perception of the communities. A total of 397 randomly selected participants had consented to participate in the study where they were given the translated semi-structured questionnaire orally of which they responded voluntarily. Of the total respondents, 84.4% said that they have heard of Avian Influenza of which only 14.3% of them believed that Avian influenza is a viral and also a zoonotic disease; 24.2% have heard of Monkeypox before in which 30.2% of them believed that is a viral and also a zoonotic disease; all 100% of the respondents have heard of Covid-19 before in which only 35.3% believed that it is a viral and also a zoonotic disease; 94.5% have heard of Yellow fever where 35.5% of them believed that it is a viral and also a zoonotic disease. Also, 72.8% have heard of Lassa haemorrhagic fever before in which 61.2% of them believed that is a viral and also a disease of animal origin. On the other hand, 91.3% of those who have knowledge of Human Influenza perceived the infection as an illness of the nose, a Chi square test was done and P-value of 0.05) between educational status of the respondents and the forms of contact they were making with wild animals, Therefore, the role of education of the respondents on their attitude towards emerging zoonotic viral diseases transmission prevention, was found to be statistically insignificant; and it is recommended that creation of awareness and training programs against transmission of emerging viral zoonoses, and also on prevention and control of the diseases in these communities; especially targeting people with non-formal education, farmers, fishermen and hunters.

Article Link:

https://ojs.aitusrj.org/files/article/view/33