Snakebite Incidence, General Awareness and Belief of Snakebite Management at a Rural Municipality of Eastern Nepal
Background: Understanding people’s awareness on snakebite management would be highly beneficial to develop strategic program at local levels of Nepal. We aimed to identity snakebite incidence, general awareness and beliefs of people regarding snakebite management in rural communities. Materials a...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nobel Medical College Teaching Hospital
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Nobel Medical College |
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| Online Access: | https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/JoNMC/article/view/50802 |
| _version_ | 1797971962064011264 |
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| author | Surya Bahadur Parajuli Heera KC Anish Luitel Menuka Shrestha Baidehi Upadhyaya |
| author_facet | Surya Bahadur Parajuli Heera KC Anish Luitel Menuka Shrestha Baidehi Upadhyaya |
| author_sort | Surya Bahadur Parajuli |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Understanding people’s awareness on snakebite management would be highly beneficial to develop strategic program at local levels of Nepal. We aimed to identity snakebite incidence, general awareness and beliefs of people regarding snakebite management in rural communities.
Materials and Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted at Budhiganga Rural Municipality from September to November 2022 among 245 households. Ethical clearance was taken from institutional review committee of Birat Medical College. Microsoft Excel 2019 and SPSS software ver. 2025 were used for data analysis.
Results: Annual snakebite incidence rate was 2332 per 100000 populations. Majority (71%) could not identify biting snake and attended traditional healers (70%). Among study participants, 25% had false belief that banded krait is not poisonous. Various false beliefs on snakebite first aid management were reported such as use of tourniquet (81%), washing bite sites (53.47%), cutting bite site (52%) and so on. Further, prevalent false beliefs on food-related practices were snake drinks milk (85.31%), giving victim water following the snakebite was beneficial (47%), giving chilly to those bitten was beneficial (41.63%) and so on.
Conclusion: Despite the existing burden of snakebites, people are not aware about the correct ways to manage them and were still attending traditional healers as a means of treatment. The mis beliefs about snakebite first aid management are very much prevalent. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T03:40:55Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4fb5e8b1f98a4fc0a82b16fbc46f82a4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2091-2331 2091-234X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T03:40:55Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | Nobel Medical College Teaching Hospital |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Nobel Medical College |
| spelling | doaj.art-4fb5e8b1f98a4fc0a82b16fbc46f82a42023-01-02T03:41:53ZengNobel Medical College Teaching HospitalJournal of Nobel Medical College2091-23312091-234X2022-12-01112677310.3126/jonmc.v11i2.5080277868Snakebite Incidence, General Awareness and Belief of Snakebite Management at a Rural Municipality of Eastern NepalSurya Bahadur Parajuli0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0386-9273Heera KC1Anish Luitel2Menuka Shrestha3Baidehi Upadhyaya4Department of Community Medicine, Birat Medical College Teaching Hospital, Morang, Nepal, Research Fellow, CVD Translational Research Program, Kathmandu University School of Nursing, Birat Medical College Teaching Hospital, Morang, NepalDepartment of Community Medicine, Birat Medical College Teaching Hospital, Morang, NepalDepartment of Nursing, Purbanchal University School of Health Sciences, Morang, NepalDepartment of Community Medicine, Manipal College of Medical Sciences, Pokhara, NepalBackground: Understanding people’s awareness on snakebite management would be highly beneficial to develop strategic program at local levels of Nepal. We aimed to identity snakebite incidence, general awareness and beliefs of people regarding snakebite management in rural communities. Materials and Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted at Budhiganga Rural Municipality from September to November 2022 among 245 households. Ethical clearance was taken from institutional review committee of Birat Medical College. Microsoft Excel 2019 and SPSS software ver. 2025 were used for data analysis. Results: Annual snakebite incidence rate was 2332 per 100000 populations. Majority (71%) could not identify biting snake and attended traditional healers (70%). Among study participants, 25% had false belief that banded krait is not poisonous. Various false beliefs on snakebite first aid management were reported such as use of tourniquet (81%), washing bite sites (53.47%), cutting bite site (52%) and so on. Further, prevalent false beliefs on food-related practices were snake drinks milk (85.31%), giving victim water following the snakebite was beneficial (47%), giving chilly to those bitten was beneficial (41.63%) and so on. Conclusion: Despite the existing burden of snakebites, people are not aware about the correct ways to manage them and were still attending traditional healers as a means of treatment. The mis beliefs about snakebite first aid management are very much prevalent.https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/JoNMC/article/view/50802first aidnepalrural communitiessnakebite |
| spellingShingle | Surya Bahadur Parajuli Heera KC Anish Luitel Menuka Shrestha Baidehi Upadhyaya Snakebite Incidence, General Awareness and Belief of Snakebite Management at a Rural Municipality of Eastern Nepal Journal of Nobel Medical College first aid nepal rural communities snakebite |
| title | Snakebite Incidence, General Awareness and Belief of Snakebite Management at a Rural Municipality of Eastern Nepal |
| title_full | Snakebite Incidence, General Awareness and Belief of Snakebite Management at a Rural Municipality of Eastern Nepal |
| title_fullStr | Snakebite Incidence, General Awareness and Belief of Snakebite Management at a Rural Municipality of Eastern Nepal |
| title_full_unstemmed | Snakebite Incidence, General Awareness and Belief of Snakebite Management at a Rural Municipality of Eastern Nepal |
| title_short | Snakebite Incidence, General Awareness and Belief of Snakebite Management at a Rural Municipality of Eastern Nepal |
| title_sort | snakebite incidence general awareness and belief of snakebite management at a rural municipality of eastern nepal |
| topic | first aid nepal rural communities snakebite |
| url | https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/JoNMC/article/view/50802 |
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