Community knowledge, attitude and practice on rabies and retrospective study of human and animal rabies exposures in selected districts of southern zone of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia

Introduction: Rabies is a fatal viral disease affecting all warm-blooded animals, including humans. It predominantly impacts low- and middle-income countries such as Ethiopia. Community awareness plays vital role in the control of the disease. This study aimed to assess community knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) regarding rabies, and to retrospectively analyze human and animal rabies cases over the past five years in the studied area.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from September 2021 to August 2023 in the rural Alamata and Korem woredas of Southern Tigray, Northern Ethiopia. Data were collected using structured questionnaire with 20 questions administered to 375 respondents. Additionally, five years of retrospective rabies exposure  data were gathered from hospitals and veterinary clinics and analyze.  

Results: Among the respondents, 52.4% had poor knowledge, 54.9% poor attitudes, and 56.1% poor practices. Poor knowledge was significantly associated with living in rural areas (P < 0.002), being a housewife (P < 0.003), a farmer (P < 0.022), and not owning a dog (P < 0.001). Poor attitudes were linked to being female (P < 0.001), rural residence (P < 0.001), and not owning a dog (P < 0.001). Poor practices were associated with secondary education (P = 0.0315), not owning a dog (P = 0.0013), and having poor knowledge (P < 0.03) or attitudes (P < 0.001). Overall, 53.1% of respondents had poor KAP scores. Being female and living in rural areas were significant predictors of overall poor KAP (P < 0.001) as the two groups have poor access to information and health services. Retrospective data showed 375 human and 71 animal rabies cases. Most human cases were male (80.8%), children under 15 (43.2%), and rural residents (86.1%).

Conclusion: The study highlights poor community KAP regarding rabies and high rates of human exposure. There is a need for an increased public education and awareness creation on rabies. Community-based education regarding rabies should be provided especially for rural residents, house wife’s, farmers and those who did not own dogs. The government bodies should provide enough human and veterinary health facilities particularly in the rural areas. Regular mass vaccination of owned dogs and elimination of stray dogs are important interventions. Finally, to have successful rabies prevention and control strategies, there should be a strong inter-sectorial collaboration between public health, veterinary professionals and local authorities in one heath approach.

Keywords: animal, attitude, human, knowledge, practice, rabies exposure.