KNOWLEDGE AND CONCEPTION OF TUBERCULOSIS;

AMONG REPRODUCTIVE AGED WOMEN: A QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS BASED ON PAKISTAN DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY

Abstract

With the very high incident of tuberculosis, Pakistan ranks fifth globally among the 22 high tuberculosis risk countries. Amongst other factors, socio-demographic factors play a significant role in determining “knowledge of tuberculosis” Objectives: This study used secondary data from the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey to estimate the impact of socio-demographic factors determining the knowledge of tuberculosis and conception on how it is spread. Data Source: The relevant variables and the other parameters were extracted from the both pdf and SPSS files of PDHS. Study Design: Bi-variant cross tabulation was used to determine the level of association between the hypothesized variables using the Pearson chi-square statistic. Results: Age and wealth index showed a highly significant relationship (p<0.0001) in determining the knowledge of tuberculosis. Moreover, the increasing level of education showed a decreasing trend of misconception about the spread of TB. Conclusions: Though the results of the study indicated a highly significant relationship between the socio-demographic factors and knowledge of tuberculosis, there is a dire need to launch awareness campaigns by the public and private sector organizations to enhance the level of correct knowledge and conception of large masses.