Knowledge, Attitudes, and Stigma: The Perceptions of Tuberculosis in Equatorial Guinea

Marta Vericat-Ferrer, Alba Ayala, Policarpo Ncogo, Juan Eyene-Acuresila, Belén García, Agustín Benito and María Romay-Barja
Additional contact information
Marta Vericat-Ferrer: Máster en Epidemiología, Dpto. Medicina Preventiva y S.P. y Microbiología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28029 Madrid, Spain
Alba Ayala: Centro Nacional de Medicina Tropical, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28029 Madrid, Spain
Policarpo Ncogo: Fundación Estatal, Salud, Infancia y Bienestar Social (FCSAI), 28029 Madrid, Spain
Juan Eyene-Acuresila: Ministerio de Salud y Bienestar Social, Malabo, Equatorial Guinea
Belén García: Fundación Estatal, Salud, Infancia y Bienestar Social (FCSAI), 28029 Madrid, Spain
Agustín Benito: Centro Nacional de Medicina Tropical, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28029 Madrid, Spain
María Romay-Barja: Centro Nacional de Medicina Tropical, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28029 Madrid, Spain

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 14, 1-12

Abstract: Tuberculosis remains one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in Equatorial Guinea, with an estimated incidence of 280 per 100,000 inhabitants, an estimated mortality rate of 96 per 100,000 inhabitants, and a treatment non-adherence rate of 21.4%. This study aimed to identify the factors associated to TB-related knowledge, attitudes, and stigma in order to design community intervention strategies that could improve TB diagnostic and treatment adherence in Equatorial Guinea. A nationwide cross-sectional survey of 770 household caregivers was conducted in Equatorial Guinea about TB knowledge, attitudes, and practices. Knowledge, attitude, and stigma scores were calculated through correct answers and the median was used as cut-off. Associated factors were analyzed calculating prevalence ratio (PR) and a 95% confidence interval (95% CI) through Poisson regression with robust variance. The percentage of women was 53.0% and median age was 46 years (IQR: 33–60). The percentage of caregivers with high TB related knowledge was 34.9%, with a bad attitude (52.5%) and low stigma (40.4%). A greater probability of having good knowledge was observed in those 45 years old or less (PR: 1.3, 95% CI: 1.1–1.6), those with higher education level (PR: 1.4, 95% CI: 1.1–1.8) and higher wealth (PR: 1.4, 95% CI: 1.0–2.0), while sex (PR = 0.8, 95% CI: 0.6–0.9), religion (PR = 1.4, 95% CI: 1.0–1.8), and good knowledge (PR = 1.4, 95% CI: 1.2–1.7) were associated with good attitudes. Wage employment (PR = 95% CI: 1.2–1.4), feeling well informed (PR = 0.7, 95% CI: 0.6–0.8), having good TB knowledge (PR = 1.3, 95% CI: 1.1–1.7), and some sources of information were associated with having lower TB-related stigma. This study found that a high percentage of caregivers in Equatorial Guinea lack important knowledge about TB disease and have bad attitudes and high TB-related stigma. Given the epidemiological situation of TB in the country, it is urgent to improve TB knowledge and awareness among Equatorial Guinea’s general population.

Keywords: tuberculosis; knowledge; attitudes; stigma; Equatorial Guinea (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/14/8227/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/14/8227/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:14:p:8227-:d:856548

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().