Awareness and knowledge of female genital schistosomiasis in a population with high endemicity: a cross-sectional study in Madagascar

This study aimed to determine FGS knowledge among women and health care workers (HCWs) in a highly endemic area of Madagascar.MethodsA convenience sampling strategy was used for this cross-sectional study. Descriptive statistics including proportions and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated, reporting socio-demographic characteristics of the population. Knowledge sources were evaluated descriptively. Binary Poisson regression with robust standard errors was performed; crude (CPR) and adjusted prevalence ratio (APR) with 95% CIs were calculated.ResultsA total of 783 participants were included in the study. Among women, 11.3% (n = 78) were aware of FGS while among the HCWs 53.8% (n = 50) were aware of FGS. The highest level of knowledge was observed among women in an urban setting [24%, (n = 31)] and among those with a university education/vocational training [23% (n = 13)]. A lower APR of FGS knowledge was observed in peri-urban [APR 0.25 (95% CI: 0.15; 0.45)] and rural [APR 0.37 (95% CI 0.22; 0.63)] settings in comparison to the urban setting. Most HCWs reported other HCWs [40% (n = 20)] while women mainly reported their family [32% (n = 25)] as being their main source of information in the 6 months prior to the survey.Discussion and conclusionsOur study shows limited awareness and knowledge of FGS among population groups in the highly endemic Boeny region of Madagascar. With this study we contribute to identifying an important health gap in...
Source: Frontiers in Microbiology - Category: Microbiology Source Type: research