Research Artcle Journal of Communicable Diseases (P-ISSN: 0019-5138 & E-ISSN: 2581-351X) Copyright (c) 2019: Advanced Research Publicatons Journal of Communicable Diseases Volume 51, Issue 2 - 2019, Pg. No. 2-7 Peer Reviewed & Open Access Journal Corresponding Author: Varalakshmi Chandra Sekaran, Melaka Manipal Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Educaton, Manipal. E-mail Id: varalakshmi.cs@manipal.edu Orcid Id: htps://orcid.org/0000-0003-3319-3075 How to cite this artcle: Guhey A, Sekaran VC, Monteiro AD et al. An Epidemiological Study to Assess the Environmental and Socio-Cultural Determinants of Malaria in Coastal Karnataka. J Commun Dis 2019; 51(2): 2-7. Date of Submission: 2019-01-25 Date of Acceptance: 2019-05-23 I N F O A B S T R A C T An Epidemiological Study to Assess the Environmental and Socio-Cultural Determinants of Malaria in Coastal Karnataka Abhishek Guhey 1 , Varalakshmi Chandra Sekaran 2 , Ashma D Monteiro 3 , Nisha Motwani 4 1,4 Prasanna School of Public Health, Manipal Academy of Higher Educaton, Manipal. 2 Melaka Manipal Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Educaton, Manipal. 3 Department of Data Science, Manipal Academy of Higher Educaton, Manipal. DOI: htps://doi.org/10.24321/0019.5138.201910 Background: India has grappled with the problem of malaria since many decades. Moreover, Udupi district contributes 13% of malaria cases to Karnataka making it a signifcant public health concern. Objectves: To explore the socio-cultural and environmental factors that afect malaria incidence in Udupi. Methods: Areas with high annual incidence of malaria in Udupi city were selected for the study. A validated structured questonnaire was used for data collecton. Study fndings were expressed in frequencies and percentages. Results: Out of 315 households, 79.7% belonged to urban areas with 30.1% being graduates and above. In 14% of households, there was a malaria case in the past one year. The respondents were assessed for belief surrounding malaria and most of the respondents (80.3%) agreed that malaria is a severe disease that needs treatment. On assessing for treatment seeking behaviour, the majority of the respondents preferred private clinics (58.7%). On probing for preventon practces, most respondents (89.8%) preferred indoor residuals spraying. Only 31% of the respondents were found to be using bed nets at night. Almost 8.9% of the houses had completely uncovered windows thus facilitatng the entry of mosquito indoors. Majority of the respondents were found to have open wells in close proximity to their homes(71.4%). Conclusion: It was found that despite having adequate knowledge regarding, malaria people do not adhere to the preventon strategies. The socio-cultural, housing and environmental factors were found to favour mosquito breeding and bitng with potentality of malaria transmission. Keywords: Behaviour, Environmental, Housing, India, Malaria, Socio-Cultural