Sociocultural factors and malaria in the desert part of Rajasthan, India.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Malaria is a new emerging problem of Indian Thar Desert. The study was attempted to find out some sociocultural factors associated with malaria transmission in this region and to supplement social solutions to ongoing malaria control efforts in the desert part of Rajasthan. METHODS Interview technique was used for data collection on pre-tested schedules. In all 30 households (15 from low socioeconomic group and the same number of households from the high socioeconomic group) in a village were selected following systematic random sampling technique. A total of 450 respondents were selected randomly in 15 villages of Jaisalmer district, Rajasthan. RESULTS One-third of the respondents had neither taken treatment for malaria nor took part in the vector control operations because they did not consider mosquito bites to be harmful and took malaria as a mild disease. Outdoor sleeping habits, sharing bed with children, uneasy and suffocation feeling in using mosquito bednets or any other protective device also contributed to the spread of malaria in the study villages. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION Community should be educated as a whole particularly the low socioeconomic group of people to bring changes in their beliefs, sociocultural and health practices to protect themselves from mosquito bites by using bednets, repellents and other devices, such as wire mesh screening of house doors and windows.