Community Medicine Abstracts - College of Medicine and Health ...

Project No. 222 (2005)Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Towards Avian Flu Among Farm WorkersStudent Authors: Manal Salem Al Mazroui, May Ahmed Al Muhairy, MonaMohammed Al NaqbiFaculty Supervisors: Dr. F. Al Maskari, Dr. J. Al Mutawa, Dr. M. Grivna, Prof. N.NagelkerkeAbstract:Objectives: Bird flu is an infection caused by avian influenza viruses of the type Astrains, which occur naturally among birds. It is very contagious among domesticatedbirds including chickens, ducks and turkeys. It also affects humans. The firstdocumented infection of humans with an avian influenza (strain H5N1) was in HongKong in 1997, which killed 6 people out of 18 causing severe respiratory disease. Thisyear, bird flu is suspected to have a pandemic spread, so the UAE could be in dangerof having the disease spread. Therefore, we wanted to assess the Knowledge,Attitudes and Practices of Health Care Professionals in AL-Ain Medical District towardsAvian Flu.Methods: By a cross sectional survey, 166 ER, PHC doctors and nurses in Al Ainmedical district were assessed by anonymous questionnaires in November 2005.Results: Our study revealed that there is statistical significant correlation betweenscoring of knowledge and the following: nationality (P-value= 0.022), profession (Pvalue=0.000), level of education (P-value= 0.000), place of work P-value=0.021 andsubjective assessment of participant’s knowledge (P-value=0.003). The majority ofhealth care professionals (88%) got their knowledge about bird flu from the media,although the majority of them prefer lectures (81%) and written information (71%) toimprove their knowledge.Conclusion: There is a need to improve the knowledge about bird flu among healthcare professionals since its important issue. Lectures, workshops and othereducational programs will be helpful sources.