Scrub Typhus Awareness for Rual Communities in Northern Thailand

Co-applicant: Phaik Yeong Cheah, Associate Professor, Nuffield Department of Medicine

Project Summary

Despite it being the leading treatable cause of undifferentiated febrile illness in Chiangrai province, most of the general public does not know of the existence of scrub typhus let alone how to prevent it, recognize it and treat it. To bridge this gap, Chiangrai Clinical Research Unit (CCRU) partnered with Chiangrai Prachanukroh provincial hospital and conducted engagement activities with primary care unit staff and village health volunteers in the district. Village health volunteers will in turn transmit this knowledge directly to villagers, the population most at risk. Three methods to transmit the knowledge will be compared through knowledge assessment questionnaires: 1) frontal sessions with village health volunteers; 2) explanatory video; and 3) explanatory audio. To improve the quality of the scrub typhus engagement project we also aim to verify the feasibility of the preventive behaviors we recommended through group discussions with the villagers at the end of the engagement sessions, by comparing the means of engagement we aim to optimize the cost effectiveness of our engagement activities and through feedback from villagers we aim to improve our recommendations and uptake of preventive behaviours.

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