Responsible Dog Ownership: Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of adults residing in a semi-urban Medical Officer of Health area in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Introduction-  Rabies is a 100% vaccine-preventable and 100% fatal zoonotic, viral illness. Dogs are the source of nearly all the deaths from rabies in Sri Lanka. Annually nearly 20-30 persons die due to human rabies and the health system provides post-exposure prophylaxis for 300,000 individuals in the country. One of the main strategies in the prevention of rabies in the country is the promotion of responsible dog ownership (RDO). This study was done with the aim of describing the knowledge, attitude, and practice on Responsible Dog Ownership and their associated factors among persons aged 20-59 years in a semi-urban Medical Officer of Health (MOH) area in Sri Lanka

Method- A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out among a random sample of 340 participants, aged 20-59 years in the MOH area Maharagama, Sri Lanka by using probability proportionate to the population size cluster sampling technique. Data were collected by using a pre-tested interviewer-administered questionnaire by two trained pre intern doctors and analyzed using SPSS software.

Results- Response rate was 94.7% (322/340). The mean age was 38.1 years (SD=11.2 years).Of the participants, 94% were Sinhalese (n=303): 87% Buddhists (n=280); 74.2% married (n=239); 64.6% employed (n=208); 82% lived in own house (n=264) with a median income of Rs. 38,000.00 (IQR=Rs. 38,000/=). Only 11.5% (n=37) were dog owners. Overall knowledge on Responsible Dog Ownership (RDO) was good among 69.3% (n=223) with: > 50% knew about rabies vaccine and breeding control but < 40% knew about parvo & distemper vaccines. Overall attitudes on RDO were favorable in 73.3% (n=236) with: >95% on dog vaccination against rabies but <30% on caring of dogs. >60% had practiced: immunization; de worming but < 40% had practiced breeding control. The factors associated with good knowledge on RDO: age 20-39 years (OR=1.7, 95% CI- 1.1 -2.8 ,p=0.01); being Sinhalese (OR=2.7, 95% CI- 1.01 -6.8, p=0.03); being Buddhists (OR=2.1, 95% CI- 1.01 -4.0, p=0.03), having higher education (OR=21.4, 95% CI- 10.2 -44.9, p<0.0001); having higher income (OR=3.5, 95% CI- 2.1 -5.8, p<0.001), being employed (OR=2.7, 95% CI- 1.6 -4.4, p<0.001) and owning dog (OR=18.9, 95% CI- 2.5 -139.7, p<0.001) .The factors associated with favorable attitudes on RDO: age 20-39 years (OR=2.6, 95% CI- 1.6 -4.3, p<0.001); being Sinhalese (OR=2.6, 95% CI- 1.03 -6.7,  p=0.04);being Buddhists (OR=2.3, 95% CI- 1.2 -4.6, p=0.01); being unmarried (OR=2.5, 95% CI- 1.2 -5.2, p=0.01); having higher education (OR=1.7, 95% CI- 1.1 -2.9,p=0.02). Practices on RDO among dog owners: having a higher level of education was associated with hygienic disposal of dung (OR=12.8, 95% CI 2.1 -78.6, p<0.01) and expression of ownership (OR=8.1, 95%CI-1.7-38.6,p=0.01). Being employed was associated with measures taken to prevent pet dog becoming a public nuisance (OR=6.6, 95% CI 1.3-32.5, p=0.04).

Conclusions and Recommendations: The majority of study participants had good knowledge, attitudes, and practices with regard to the prevention of Rabies. However, their knowledge, attitudes, and practices on other elements of RDO are not as good. Responsible Dog Ownership should be introduced as a regulation for the general public by the Ministry of Health in order to further reduce deaths due to Rabies in Sri Lanka .

Keywords—Responsible Dog Ownership, Rabies, Sri Lanka