International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health | January 2020 | Vol 7 | Issue 1 Page 345 International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health Chakraborty A et al. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2020 Jan;7(1):345-349 http://www.ijcmph.com pISSN 2394-6032 | eISSN 2394-6040 Original Research Article Communication and awareness on a new vaccine: a cross-sectional study in a tertiary care hospital of West Bengal Arup Chakraborty 1 , Mousumi Datta 1 *, Debjani Guchhait 1 , Shibaji Gupta 2 INTRODUCTION Japanese encephalitis (JE), a vector borne viral encephalitis, has been a public health problem in India and the world for long. The case fatality rate (CFR) due to AES/JE in India has been around 17%. 1 JE most commonly occurs in the young (less than fifteen years); however, adults are also affected. It is estimated that in the last sixty years, JE has infected around 10 million children globally, killing 3 million and causing long-term disability in 4 million. 1 JE is widespread in India. It was clinically diagnosed for the first time in 1955 at Vellore (Tamil Nadu). Since then, JE outbreaks have occurred in various parts of India. The first major JE epidemic was reported from the Burdwan and Bankura districts of West Bengal in 1973 followed by another outbreak in 1976. 1 Outbreaks have also been reported from Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Haryana and other states. The Directorate of National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) has been monitoring the incidence of JE in India since 1978. 1 Difficulty in recognizing the disease clinically has made it tough to generate adequate JE surveillance data throughout the world. Lack of sufficient laboratory support has also been a problem. In India, till 2005, JE ABSTRACT Background: Japanese encephalitis (JE) vaccination in India started in 2006 with SA-14-14-2 live attenuated JE vaccine (JEV) following large outbreaks of JE in some districts of Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in 2005. Age groups 1-15 yrs are first vaccinated with a single dose of JEV in a campaign mode followed by integration of this vaccine in routine immunization. It is beyond doubt that added to vaccination campaigns, proper awareness on JE can play significant role in controlling the disease. Methods: An observational study with cross sectional design was conducted in Kolkata Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata during JE Vaccination campaign during January, 2018 among 85 respondents, to assess the awareness on JE, among care-givers who brought their children for vaccination at the immunization clinic. Results: It was found that only 37.6% the respondents attending the campaign knew the name of the disease; 17.6% respondents were aware about disease transmission, and 5.9% could state two or more clinical features that might be associated with Japanese Encephalitis. 69.4% had no knowledge of up to what age JE vaccines can be administered; 23.5% said it can be administered till the beneficiaries attain fifteen years of age. Conclusions: IEC activities during JE vaccination campaign was not able raise awareness on JE to the desired level. However beneficiaries were informed about service availability and could be mobilised to come for vaccination. Keywords: Japanese encephalitis, Vaccine-awareness, Vaccination-campaign 1 Department of Community Medicine, Medical College Kolkata, West Bengal, India 2 Department of Community Medicine, Midnapore Medical College, West Bengal, India Received: 20 November 2019 Revised: 12 December 2019 Accepted: 13 December 2019 *Correspondence: Dr. Mousumi Datta, E-mail: drmousumid@gmail.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20195879