The Success of the 'Kasira' Rabies Cadres in Improving Community Knowledge and Attitudes towards Rabies

摘要

Community-based approach, named kasira (rabies cadres) was developed in Sukabumi to overcome obstacles in rabies control program. The aims of this study were to evaluate the ability of rabies cadres in educating the people in their community relating to improving people's knowledge and attitudes, and their responses to the information media disseminated. Respondents consisted of 200 people who were participants in the education program delivered by kasira in all villages (11 villages) in Jampang Tengah Subdistrict, Sukabumi Regency. The educational method were classical and face to face communication, distribution of banners, posters, and leaflets. Pre-test and post-test were given to participants before and after the activity. Participants also filled out questionnaires related to activities and their response to information media that were distributed. The t-test for paired data was used to measure the increase in knowledge and attitudes after activity. The results showed that the percentage of participants who had good knowledge of rabies increased from 26.5% to 72.5%, and the percentage who had positive attitude toward rabies controlling increase from 19% to 56.5%, and the interventions can significantly increase respondents' knowledge and attitudes. The involvement of integrated health cadres in controlling and eradicating rabies is very important, especially for communication, education and information to the community.