Texila International Journal of Public Health ISSN: 2520-3134 DOI: 10.21522/TIJPH.2013.08.01.Art025 Perception about Preventive Measures of Malaria among Tribal Adults in Higher Endemic Community Article by Riva Tangchangya 1 , Irfan Nowroze Noor 2 , M M Aktaruzzaman 3 , Irin Hossain 4 , Afroza Begum 5 1 Bandarban Sadar Hospital 2, 4, 5 National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine, Mohakhali, Dhaka 3 CDC, DGHS, Bangladesh E-mail: irin.hossain@gmail.com 4 Abstract Malaria is a public health problem in some parts of Bangladesh, particularly in 13 districts in the north-east and south-east areas. Among them Bandarban district is highly endemic. There is a need for updating preventive measures on malaria for suitable control strategies among tribal populations. Basis of this need the present study assessed the perception of preventive measures of malaria among Tribal adults in higher endemic community. A community based cross-sectional study was done among 316 Tribals adults were selected by convenient sampling technique in Sadar Upazila of Bandarban district. Data were collected through face to face interview by using pretested semi structured questionnaire. Average age of the respondents was 35.0 years with (SD) ±8.9 years. 63.61% female and 36.39% male respondents. One third respondent’s levels of education were no schooling and 51.6% were housewives. About 98.1% of respondents correctly knew that malaria is transmitted by mosquito bite and fever was the recognized symptom for malaria (90.5%). Most of respondents 94.0% knew about malaria preventive measures. More than half 56.3% of respondents did not know about mosquito biting time. Only 20% respondents ever had malaria, among them 55.4% respondent’s malaria was diagnosed more than 3 days and 93.8% started treatment within 1 day after diagnosis of malaria. After multivariate analysis, no. of family member is associated with all family member at home sleep under LLIN (p=0.003, OR=0.323, 95% CI for OR from 0.152 to 0.687) while controlling others variables. Knowledge of malaria and preventive measures was considerable but the utilization of preventive measures was suboptimal. Keywords: Perception of preventive measure, Malaria, Tribal adult, higher endemic community. Introduction Background Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites that are transmitted to people through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. In 2015, 91 countries and areas had ongoing malaria transmission [1]. Malaria is one of the most important public health problems in term of morbidity and mortality. There were 212 million cases of malaria in 2015 and 429 000 deaths globally [1]. In Bangladesh, the total number of people who are at risk of malaria in the 13 endemic districts is approximately 13.25 million. From the three CHT districts (Rangamati, Khagrachari and Bandarban) with a total population of about 1.6 million, about 80% of the cases of malaria in Bangladesh are found there. The indigenous population constitutes about 50% of the total population in CHT districts. The tribal hamlets are in clusters in the remote hills and foothills. Most of the houses are thatched built with indigenous material e.g. bamboo, wood etc. and these houses seldom have any protection against the vector mosquitoes [2]. Malaria is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in malaria endemic areas. Both males and females are affected by malaria; however. Due to their occupations, adult males are more affected by malaria and their behavior also put them at risk of being bitten by malaria vectors. Pregnant women and children <5yrs are biologically at higher risk and they tend to develop more severe 1