Larviciding Practice for Prevention and Control of Dengue among Ur- ban Community

Introduction: Larviciding is one of the long-term measures that can help to eradicate Aedes larval breeding before they become adults. Local Health authorities have been conducting environmental larvicing activities at regular intervals and this may have altered the community’s perception that vector-control activities are now the responsibility of government agencies and that the local community may not be required to practice larviciding. This study aims to determine level of knowledge, attitude and factors associated with larviciding practice among urban community. Materials & Methods: A cross-sectional survey was done in selected five local authority areas in Selangor state, Malaysia. Two stage random sampling using cluster random sampling for type of houses and systematic random sampling for selection of houses was used. Respondents were interviewed using structured questionnaire. Descriptive and bivariate statistical test (Spearman’s correlation and Mann-U Whitney) were used. Result: A total of 2007 respondents were interviewed. About 48% of respondents practiced larviciding in their homes with only 15.8% had good level of practice. Majority (92.7%) of respondents reported that they would practice larviciding only if there is an outbreak of dengue with threat of death in their community. 69.4% of the respondents had good knowledge on larvicide and larviciding. Knowledge was significantly associated with education level (p<0.05). About 49.4% of respondents were found to have good attitude towards larviciding. Knowledge (r= 0.137,p<0.05) and attitude scores (r= 0.087, p<0.05) were found to have a weak but significant positive correlation with practice of larviciding. Higher knowledge level (U=300173, p<0.05) and better attitude level (U=368265, p<0.05) was found to be significantly associated with larvicide usage. Conclusion: Despite having good levels of knowledge and attitude, the practice of larviciding among urban communities in Selangor state during peace time is still low. The level of practice of larviciding is dependent on whether there is an outbreak of dengue in the community or not.