Household hygiene practices and knowledge of Lassa Fever: a comparative study between rural and urban areas in Ondo state

Introduction: Ondo State recently took over as the epicenter of Lassa Fever infections in Nigeria. Several community household practices could lead to an increase in disease transmission, necessitating a study to assess and compare household hygiene preventive practices and knowledge of Lassa fever among rural and urban dwellers in Ondo State. Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional comparative study. Data was collected using semi structured interviewer administered and pretested questionnaires. Multistage sampling was used to select 621 community respondents. The data collected was analysed using SPSS software. Results: All respondents from urban and 98% of rural areas respondents were aware of the disease. Overall good knowledge score was 100%for urban and 33.3% among rural areas respondents (p< 0.05). About 47.2% of urban and 29.3% of rural respondents had good hygiene practices (p< 0.05). Urban respondents were 1.9 times more likely to have good knowledge compared to rural respondents (p< 0.05). Rural respondents were 1.6 times more likely to have a good hygiene practice compared to urban respondents (p>0.05). Conclusion: Gaps in household hygiene practices and knowledge were observed, with poorer gaps in rural, suggesting a need for a sustained state-wide health promotion programmes, to translate knowledge into good preventive practices.