Knowledge, attitudes, and practices on urogenital schistosomiasis among adult community members in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa.

Schistosomiasis, or bilharzia, is a parasitic disease caused by flatworms of the genus Schistosoma and is spread by infected freshwater snails. Adequate knowledge, positive attitudes, and good hygiene practices can play a role in disease prevention. This study assessed the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAPs) of community members from the Uitenhage-iBhayi areas of Nelson Mandela Bay regarding urogenital schistosomiasis. A quantitative descriptive, cross-sectional research design was used to ascertain the KAPs of adult participants in the community using telephone interviews. Surveys were conducted online using QuestionPro. Descriptive and bivariate analyses were conducted using the R programming software (version 4.1.2). Of the 210 participants, only 33.3% were aware of bilharzia; however, only 6.7% had accurate knowledge of schistosomiasis and 9% of how it was transmitted. There was a significant association between the variables knowledge and attitude, participants' age, and their knowledge of bilharzia (p-value<0.001) and between the participants’residential location and their knowledge about bilharzia (p-value <0.001). The findings revealed that many community members were unaware of schistosomiasis and many who were aware of schistosomiasis did not have accurate knowledge of schistosomiasis transmission cycle, prevention, and control measures. Hence, there is a need for the community, municipality, and province to design a bilharzia intervention strategy that will enhance knowledge, aetiology, and transmission as well as inculcate better attitudes and practices among the populace.