Incidence of Dengue and the Characteristics of the People in a Community

Dengue is a worldwide problem endangering millions of lives every year. Recently, the Philippines has been ranked 3rd among countries with the most number of dengue cases. Dengue has remained uncontrolled and incremental and thus calls for vigilance and knowledge of preventive measures. This study determined the relationship between demographic profiles of the respondent, their level of knowledge and practices and dengue incidence among selected nine (9) communities grouped into high, medium, and low dengue incidence. Following a descriptive-correlation design and a validated and pilot-tested, researcher-made questionnaire, 30 randomly selected respondents participated in the study. Weighted mean, one-way ANOVA, post-hoc and force cluster methods were employed to analyze the data. Results showed no significant relationship between the demographic profile (age, sex, education, socio-economic status) and level of knowledge with dengue incidence. However, there was a significant relationship between practices and dengue incidence. Dengue prevention education should be a major concern of community health worker and community leaders.

Keywords - Dengue, demographics, knowledge and practices of community people.