The knowledge, attitudes and practices of wintersun vacationers to the Gambia toward prevention of malaria: is it really that bad?

Table 1 General characteristics of 708 respondents traveling to a destination with a high risk of malaria

	Gambia		Other high risk destinations		P-value²
	N	%	N	%
	373	52.7	335	47.3
Sex
Male	182	48.8¹	176	52.5¹	n.s.
Female	186	49.9	159	47.5
Age
Age > 60 yrs	79	21.2	49	14.6	n.s.
Travel duration
< 7 days	80	21.4	59	17.6	<0.001
8 - 14 days	165	44.2	77	23.0
15 - 28 days	80	21.4	87	26.0
> 28 days	18	4.8	69	20.6
Travel health preparation
Pre-travel information					n.s.
No	39	10.5	69	20.6
Yes	334	89.5	266	79.4
Information source					0.037
Travel clinic/publich health service	216	57.9	145	43.3
Company doctor	4	1.1	13	3.9
General practitioner/pharmacy	43	11.5	29	8.7
Other	17	4.6	23	6.9
Time frame information - departure					n.s.
< 7 days	45	12.1	34	10.1
8 - 14 days	66	17.7	49	14.6
15 - 28 days	83	22.3	76	22.7
> 28 days	140	37.5	107	31.9
Purpose for travel					<0.001
Tourist	271	72.7	110	32.8
Business	26	7.0	76	22.7
VFR	46	12.3	108	32.2
Missionary/volunteer	16	4.3	27	8.1
Research	6	1.6	7	2.1
Other	5	1.3	5	1.5
Travel profile					<0.001
Solo traveller	69	18.5	140	41.8
Travel with spouse	209	56.0	77	23.0
Travel with children	32	8.6	36	10.7
Travel with group	19	5.1	28	8.4
Travel with friends	26	7.0	17	5.1
Other	11	2.9	18	5.4
Preventive measures
Insectrepellents	323	86.6	178	53.1	<0.001
Bednet	74	19.8	64	19.1	0.027
Chemoprophylaxis	323	86.6	175	52.2	<0.001

¹all data are given as a percentage of either the total number of respondents travelling to The Gambia (i.e., n = 373) or as a percentage of the total number of respondents travelling to an other high risk destination (i.e., n = 335). Values do not always add up to 100% due to missing values; ²P-value for comparison of travellers to The Gambia vs other high risk destinations, adjusted for year of survey through multiple logistic regression analysis.

ISSN: 1475-2875