Awareness, attitude, and knowledge about pneumococcal infection and vaccination

Awareness, attitude, and knowledge about pneumococcal infection and vaccination: A survey across North Delhi: Yoshita Sharma, Deepansuli Jaswal, Himanshu Shriwal, Himanshu Verma, Jyoti Shah



International Journal of Health & Allied Sciences 2020 9(1):51-56



INTRODUCTION: Pneumococcal infection is a significant public health problem and leading cause of death among young children in developing countries. In most of the cases, “Streptococcus pneumonia” is the common human pathogenic bacterium. It further increases the risk of otitis media, meningitis, sepsis, paranasal sinuses, and upper respiratory infections. To fight against this condition advanced antibiotic therapies are available, but due to less awareness and knowledge people are unable to access.

AIM: The present study aims to measure the level of awareness and knowledge among the population of North Delhi about pneumococcal infection and vaccination.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: To conduct the survey, questionnaire was developed. The questionnaire consists of 17 questions, which are divided into three sections such as awareness, knowledge, and attitude. A total of 281 (males: 105; females: 176) participants participated in the present survey.

RESULTS: The present study revealed that only 46.02% of females have seen advertisements related to pneumococcal, whereas 60% of males said that they have never seen any advertisement. A total of 43 (40.95%) males and 57 (32.38%) females reported that pneumococcal vaccination (PCV) may help in curing pneumococcal disease; however, only 8.57% males and 19.09% females agreed that PCV can cure the pneumococcal disease. Only 29.89% population knew that pneumococcal can also cause ear infection, whereas only 29.89% were aware of the fact that pneumococcal infection can be fatal for neonates.

CONCLUSION: From the present study, we can conclude that after all the initiatives taken by government, general population still has low level of awareness about the PCV. We suggest that more campaigns, street play, advertisement, and other methods need to introduce to increase the level of awareness.