article · Sierra Leone journal of medicine.
A cross-sectional study of 414 participants during a medical outreach in Mbasur, a rural community in Gboko, Benue State, examined awareness, knowledge, and preventive practices regarding Lassa fever. The majority of respondents were female, aged between 20 and 39 years, and worked as farmers. Overall awareness was low, with only 106 participants having heard of the disease, mainly through mass media. Among those who were aware, over 94 percent reported eating rats as a delicacy, and more than half demonstrated poor knowledge of the infection, though nearly 60 percent showed good preventive practices. Statistical analysis established that poor knowledge was significantly linked to poor preventive practices and rodent consumption, whereas being single correlated with better knowledge. The findings indicate that awareness and understanding remain inadequate, suggesting that health education should use direct community talks rather than depending solely on mass media.
Lassa fever is a severe viral disease transmitted by infected rodents, posing a persistent threat to agricultural communities. Identifying specific gaps in local knowledge and preventive habits helps public health authorities understand why transmission continues. These insights allow health workers to replace ineffective broadcast messaging with direct community engagement, reducing high-risk practices such as rodent consumption and preventing future outbreaks in vulnerable populations.
The abstract does not indicate an application pathway for commercial products or technologies. The findings provide applied baseline evidence suitable for public health organisations, local authorities, and non-governmental bodies looking to design targeted health-communication and community-outreach programmes. Any translation of this work would sit within non-commercial public health interventions and preventive education rather than market-ready tools.
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Background Lassa fever is a highly infectious viral illness transmitted through fluids and secretions infected rodent, Mastomys natalensis. The study aimed to explore the awareness, knowledge, and preventive practices related to Lassa fever in order to improve prevention efforts for this infectious disease. Methods The study was a cross-sectional study of 414 participants, selected by consecutive non-probability sampling with an interviewer-administered questionnaire used during a medical outreach in Mbasur, a rural community in Gboko, Benue State. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 23 and statistical significance was set at P <0.05. Results Most of the participants, 215(52%) were aged between 20-39 years and female, 242(58.5%). Most, 280(67.6%) were married, attained secondary education, 256(61.8%) and were farmers 346(83.6%). Only 106(25.6%) were aware of the disease and out of these, 72(67.9%) had their sources of information from mass media. Among the 106 individuals aware of Lassa fever, 100 (94.3%) consumed rats as a delicacy, 57 (53.8%) exhibited poor knowledge, and 63 (59.4%) demonstrated good preventive practices. Good knowledge of the disease was significantly associated with being single (p=0.019) and not consuming rodents as a delicacy (p<0.001). There was also a statistically significant association between poor knowledge of Lassa fever and poor preventive practices (p<0.001). Conclusion Lassa fever awareness, knowledge and preventive practices was poor in the rural community. The main source of information about the disease was mass media. It is recommended that awareness campaigns should be scaled up by using direct health talks in rural communities and not depend only on mass media.
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DOI: 10.69524/sljm.v2i2.156
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