Investigation on knowledge of infectious disease prevention and control among personnel to Africa

TIAN Yini; WU Dandan; JIANG Pengyue; XU Boshi; ZHANG Dongmei; YE Run

doi:10.19821/j.1671-2781.2025.05.019

Abstract：Objective To investigate the level of knowledge of infectious disease prevention and control among personnel to Africa,so as to provide guidance for targeted health education and the formulation of infectious disease prevention and control strategies.Methods Using the cluster sampling method,a questionnaire survey was conducted among personnel to Africa in 2023.The Chi-squared test and one-way ANOVA were used to analyze the differences in knowledge of infectious disease prevention and control among different age groups.Results A total of 163 valid questionnaires were collected,with the majority of respondents being male(95.09％).Among the 18 infectious diseases transmitted through the respiratory tract,digestive tract and vectors,there were 8 diseases with awareness rates below 50％.The awareness rate of COVID-19 was the highest(100％).For the transmission routes of COVID-19 and digestive tract infectious diseases,there were 33.74％,37.42％of the respondents chose wrong options.For the measures to prevent infectious diseases,the awareness rate of wearing masks(98.77％)was the highest among respiratory infectious diseases,and the awareness rate of washing hand before dinner or after defecating(95.09％)was the highest among digestive tract infectious diseases.The awareness rate of mosquitoes(99.39％)was the highest among vectors,and the awareness rate of malaria(96.32％)was the highest among mosquito-borne diseases.Bed nets,florida water and mosquito-repellent were the most commonly used mosquito control measures.Knowledge related to infectious diseases was mainly obtained through training courses(74.85％)and online resources(73.62％).For the awareness of the transmission routes of COVID-19 and the clinical manifestations of malaria,there were statistical differences in the accuracy rates among different age groups(χ2=12.294,P=0.002;χ2=6.676,P=0.036),with the highest accuracy rate in individuals over 30 years old.Conclusions The cognition of infectious diseases among personnel to Africa needs to be improved.It is necessary to strengthen publicity and education on the key infectious diseases and weak links such as their transmission routes.Further diversified publicity and education,as well as strengthened supervision and management,are needed to continuously enhance their prevention awareness and response capability of infectious diseases.