Tuberculosis knowledge and health seeking behaviour: A tale of two districts of Sindh, Pakistan

To assess the knowledge about tuberculosis and health-seeking behaviour of people living in rural areas of Sindh.

This cross-sectional survey was conducted by the Pakistan Red Crescent Society in Dadu and Badin districts of Sindh, Pakistan, from January to August 2014. Cluster sampling technique was used for the selection of 900 households from two union councils. Those staying for less than 6 months and who refused to participate were excluded. Personal interviews were conducted by trained data collectors on pretested questionnaire. Data was analysed using SPSS 20.

Of the 900 households, there were 450(50%) in each districts. In Dadu, 298(66.6%) participants were illiterate compared to 236(52.4%) in Badin. Half of the respondents n= 225 (50%) in Dadu were farmers compared to 136(30.2%) in Badin. Besides, 341(75.7%) in Dadu and 311(69%) in Badin were earning less than Rs10,000 per month. In addition, 318(70.6%) respondents in Dadu and 235(52.2%) in Badin had heard about tuberculosis. In Dadu, 237(52.6 %) thought it was curable compared to 263(58.4%) in Badin, whereas 32(7%) in Dadu and 45(10%) in Badin thought there was no remedy for it. Besides, 216(48%) villagers in both the districts were of the opinion that fever was the chief symptom, followed by cough and weight loss. Only 109(24.2%) respondents in Badin district confirmed the presence of a lady health worker in their village compared to 75(16.6%) in Dadu.

Pakistanis living in rural areas had insufficient knowledge about most aspects of tuberculosis, and held misconceptions about the disease.