ASSESSMENT OF AWARENESS OF HEPATITIS B VIRUS INFECTION IN THE PATIENTS ATTENDING NIUM, BANGALORE, INDIA

Abstract

Hepatitis-B is such a disease which is life threatening and contributing a large man power as well as economical loss worldwide. It is a serious and common infectious disease of the liver affecting millions of people worldwide. Hepatitis-B virus can cause the acute as well as chronic infection. The knowledge and awareness in the general population is of much necessity to avoid the risk of the disease. The present study focuses on the knowledge and awareness about Hepatitis B in the people of Bangalore city, India. The main objective of the study is to assess the awareness about Hepatitis-B Virus Infection in the Patients Attending National Institute of Unani Medicine, Bangalore, Karnataka, India. The present study was a hospital based cross sectional study in which every 10^th patient was taken for the study from the registration register of NIUM hospital and enquired about the knowledge about Hepatitis-B virus infection through a pretested semi-structured questionnaire, till the statistically calculated sample size of 903 was obtained. The study revealed that the people of Bangalore city, India which is counted among the cities having high literacy rates in India, merely 45 i.e. 5 % out of 903 people enquired have the knowledge about this life threatening disease. The study shows that merely 45 i.e. 5 % out of 903 people have the knowledge about Hepatitis-B Virus infection. In India hepatitis-B is a major health problem. The outcome of this study shows that people of Bangalore city, India are at high risk to develop the disease. More studies with larger sample size should be conducted to refine these results so that more awareness programs should be conducted to create the awareness among the people of Bangalore city, India.