Evaluation of knowledge about parasitosis and an educational intervention with students of a municipal school in Santana do Ipanema, state of Alagoas

Abstract

Parasitic diseases still represent a serious problem of Public Health in Brazil. These infections are maintained as a result of the lack of formal education and specific knowledge about personal hygiene and quality of life. The objectives were to analyze the level of knowledge of schoolchildren about parasitic
diseases and develop a proposal for intervention with health education measures in order to enlighten the students about the importance of measures for prophylaxis of parasitic diseases. The study was conducted in a public school located in the suburbs of the city of Santana do Ipanema. We selected 100 students from different grades of education and questionnaires were applied to identify their level of knowledge
about parasitic diseases. It was noticed that 88% of the students know at least one parasite. The most mentioned were: Ascariasis, mentioned by 80% of the interviewees, followed by Visceral Leishmaniasis with 59% and 34% with Amoebiasis. The main source of information on parasitic diseases, appointed by the students was the TV/Radio (37%), while the school was cited by only 24% of the interviewees. It was noticed that 77% of students did not receive instructions on means of prevention of parasitic diseases. Measures of health education are important for students to have some basic prevention and care against the most common parasites in the region, especially in the Northeast, where there is a great prevalence of these diseases.