Knowledge and practice among the population of Saudi Arabia eastern province during the H1N1 pandemic 2009

الملخص EN

Background : It is well-known that public compliance with health directives is a prerequisite for an effective pandemic management and that individual beliefs, perceptions and knowledge are important factors in determining this compliance.

Objective : To evaluate the level of people’s knowledge and practice towards Influenza A (H1N1pandemic).

Design : A descriptive cross-sectional study.

Setting : Five commercial malls, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia.

Method : Self-administered questionnaires which were distributed among 550 adults attending specific commercial malls in Eastern Province from 27th of June to 11th of July 2009.

Result : A total of 550 adults participated in this study.

Five-hundred twenty-seven (95.8 %) participants were Saudi and 286 (52 %) were males.

Five-hundred forty-seven (99.5 %) participants heard about “swine flu”.

Five-hundred thirty-eight (97.8 %) knew that this disease is transmissible to humans.

Four-hundred eighty-six (88.4 %) thought that the disease can be prevented.

Three-hundred nine (56.2 %) participants stated that there is a vaccine against the disease.

Two-hundred thirty-six (42.9 %) stated that they were washing their hands and the same figure stated that they were avoiding people with seasonal influenza symptoms.

Moreover, only ninety (16.4 %) stopped kissing and hugging friends and relatives and 68 (12.4 %) stopped shaking hands.

Conclusion : Although the knowledge of the people in Eastern Province in KSA about Influenza A (H1N1) was good, poor compliance with the government recommended preventive measures was noted.

This study proved that there is a need for more efforts to encourage the public to undertake specific behaviours related to preventive measures of infectious diseases outbreaks.