Knowledge, attitude and prevention practices toward dengue among the Mauritian population. A cross-sectional study.

Introduction: After an absence of more than four decades, dengue reemerged in Mauritius in 2009, with seven outbreaks being recorded to date.

Aim: This study assessed the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAPs) of the Mauritian population on dengue.

Methods: A questionnaire was designed, and a survey was carried out among 405 participants. The KAP scores of respondents were calculated and categorized as excellent, adequate or poor.

Result: The correlation between knowledge and practice was very weak (τ = 0.088; p = 0.022) while that between attitude and practice was moderate (τ = 0.198; p = 0.001). It was noted that 47.2 % respondents had excellent scores on general knowledge on dengue, 96.5% obtained excellent scores on the knowledge of preventive practices and 17.5% had excellent scores on implementation of the preventive measures. Poor knowledge was noted on the cure for dengue (4.2%), re-infections could lead to health complications (22.5 %), and dengue vector biting in the early mornings and evenings (36.8 %). Furthermore, only 20.0% used mosquito repellent creams, 21.0% used mosquito nets on windows, 33.8% wore protective clothes and 36.8% checked their yards for water accumulation weekly. Elderly, those with lower education background, of lower socio-economic class and residing in rural areas obtained significantly lower KAP scores within their respective sub-group. Females were more likely to wear mosquito repellent cream (p = 0.028) and long-sleeved clothes (p = 0.015).

Conclusion: This study revealed high knowledge of dengue preventive practices but poor prevention practices among respondents. This calls for additional sensitization programs in specific identified groups.