Publication:

Knowledge and attitudes towards tea garden labour with special reference to tuberculosis of Dibrugarh district, Assam, India

Background Tuberculosis (TB) is preventable and curable though it is a global burden which remains enormous. TB is one of the major public health problems in tea garden labour. Low level of knowledge and attitudes towards TB could affect the health-seeking behavior of patients and sustain the transmission of the disease within the community.

Methods A population based cross-sectional study was carried out to assess the knowledge, attitude of tea garden labour of Dibrugarh district, Assam, India.

Results 100 TB patients were interviewed in nine tea garden DOTS centre. Male and female distribution was 53% and 57% respectively. More than half of them were illiterate and 60 of them having 5-6 family size live in a congested environment. Chest pain i.e. 79% is the most common symptom experienced by the TB diagnosis which is followed by cough i.e. 76% and 33% were aware that it could spread through sneezing/cough. Tea garden hospital/tertiary centre was mentioned as a source of information about TB. Although most of them were positive about getting family support, 87% mentioned of separate utensils for food or drink and 88% got motivate by them to initiate treatment.

Conclusions Knowledge regarding mode of transmission, symptoms and etiology were not sound properly among the tea garden labour. They need proper awareness regarding cause, transmission, prevention, etc.