ISSN: 0976-3325 Short Communication KABP STUDY OF MALARIA IN THE RURAL AREAS OF UTRAN, SURAT Verma Anupam1, Bansal RK2, Thakar Girish3, Modi Krishna4, Munshi Ankit4, Nagarsheth Mansi4 1Associate Professor, 2Profesor and Head, 3Regional Deputy Director, Health & Family Welfare Department, Govt. of Gujarat, 4Ex-Interns, Dept. of Community Medicine, SMIMER, Surat- 395010, Gujarat. Correspondence:
[email protected] INTRODUCTION mosquitoes or harboured misconceptions thereof and Malaria an important public health problem affects all only 22.4 percent knew their breeding places. Only age groups and it is responsible for considerable 44% of the respondents were aware of the concept of morbidity and mortality in South East Asia and the intradomestic resting places. Indian subcontinent.1-2 Incidence of malaria 54.3 percent were aware of fever as a symptom of worldwide estimated to be 300-500 million cases malaria and 27.2 percent as fever with chills. each year, out of which about 90 percent occurring in Knowledge regarding other symptoms was relatively Sub-Saharan Africa and India3. Like India, malaria scant and another problem was the mentioning of problem in the Gujarat state has also remained quite other symptoms in the absence of the symptom of local and focal as per the current epidemiological fever. Other symptoms listed were headache (16%), situation4. Malaria kills between 1.1 to 2.7 million vomiting (13.6%), bodyache (10.4%), backache people worldwide each year and indirectly (4.8%), vertigo (4.8%) and anorexia (3.2%) or contributes to illness and death from respiratory symptoms related with other co-infections, yet infections, Diarrhoeal diseases and malnutrition3.