The level of awareness of Human African Trypanosomosis (HAT) in Taraba State, Nigeria

Human African trypanosomosis (HAT) is an endemic zoonosis in Nigeria. Awareness of the people of Taraba State on the disease is not known. A total of 900 structured questionnaires were administered to people in six randomly selected Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Taraba State to assess their awareness of HAT. An overall awareness of respondents to HAT was 86.9% (782/900). The awareness of the disease was significantly higher (P 0.05) in Jalingo LGA 18.7% (146/782) than Bali 14.3% (112/782). The awareness of the disease in Wukari, Ibi, Gashaka, and Karim Lamido LGAs were 17.4% (136/782), 17.1% (134/782), 17.0% (133/782), and 15.5% (121/782) respectively. Based on educational qualifications, respondents with tertiary educational qualification recorded highest awareness 28.9% (200/692), and the least aware respondents were the non-educated 19.2% (133/692) which was statistically significant (P 0.05). The awareness among individuals with primary and secondary qualifications were 24.1% (167/692) and 27.8% (192/692) respectively. About 60.8% (547/900) of the respondents were aware that HAT is transmitted through bites of tsetse flies. Respondents that got information about HAT in schools 43.2% (389/900) were significantly higher (P 0.05) than those that were informed by medical personnel 17.3% (156/900). The study showed that more people in the State are aware of HAT than those who understand that tsetse flies are involved in the transmission cycle. The study also showed that urbanization and education influenced the awareness of HAT in the State.