A Study on Awareness of Tuberculosis among the Population of the Field Practice Area of Urban Health Centre, Panagal, Nalgonda District, Andhra Pradesh.

A descriptive cross sectional study using Simple Random Sampling technique was used to select a sample of
310 houses from universe of 2373 houses of during the time period of 28th of May to 28th of July for a period of
two months. There were 171 ((55.2%) males and 139 (44.8%) females in the study population. Most of the
study population were of the age group of 20-29 years. The average age of male was 41.67 years and that of
females was 38.10 years. About 51.9% of the study population had not heard about Tuberculosis, Cough with
sputum was the predominant symptom known by most of the study population. Literacy status also played a
role as in the study seen that more literate a person more was awareness. Only 13.6% of the total respondents
were able to say that the gold standard i.e. the sputum examination is required in case of Tuberculosis.
Majority (68.7%) were optimistic that tuberculosis is curable. Majority (57.1%) preferred Government
hospitals to Private Hospitals for diagnosis and treatment and therapy of choice was Allopathy ( 85.8%).
77.1% of the study population were aware of the presence of DOTS center in UHC, Panagal. Only 67.7%
were aware that Anti TB drugs were given on ‘gratis’ in Government Hospitals. Majority (20.0%) of the study
population heard about TB from mass media. Majority (79.9%) were aware of BCG Vaccination and majority
of them who were aware said that it should be given as a part of routine immunization to an infant. The
lacunae in the awareness about the epidemiology, diagnosis treatment, precautions, preventive measures taken
for tuberculosis, DOTS regimen, DOTS Center and BCG vaccination, as observed in the study can be
mitigated by a multipronged approach utilizing the public-private partnership.