Objective: To determine social factors behind growing tuberculosis (TB) in rural areas of district Multan, Pakistan.
Methodology: The quantitative data was collected from rural areas of district Multan, through interviews. Patients were selected by multi stage sampling technique. At first, hospitals in the sampled tehsils were selected through purposive sampling. In the second stage, patients age group was determined. At the later stage, the data were was collected through convenient sampling technique. Univariate and bivariate analysis was using SPSS 25 to see the association between social factors and TB.
Results: The social factors involved illiteracy, lack of awareness along with poor knowledge about TB (its causes, prevention and treatment protocol), poor treatment adherence, positive family history, residing many people in a single room, poor supervision, endogamy, unhygienic environment, most frequent interaction with TB patient and animal husbandry.
Conclusion: There were several social factors causing the growth of TB. The major factor was poor awareness level of people about TB. The study recommended that policy makers should work for creating awareness among the common masses about the prevention of TB and focus on the existing mechanism of TB patientsÂ’ identification, diagnosis and treatment.
Key words: Tuberculosis (TB), Social, Awareness, Illiteracy, Treatment Adherence.
|
