Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

The aim of this study was to measure the castration coverage and the attitudes among people towards castration in an area in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, where a castration program has been running for a few years. Another aim was to review the literature to examine the link between castration coverage and rabies prevalence. Two areas (Area 25 and Area 23) in Lilongwe were studied through standardized household interviews. In Area 25, a non-governmental organization had been castrating dogs weekly to twice weekly for free for 3 years. In Area 23, no official organization had done castrations, and this area therefore acted as a control in the study. In each area, 200 households were interviewed. In both areas, the castration coverage was found to be quite low; 22% and 28% of the adult dogs included in the study was castrated in Area 25 and 23, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in castration coverage between the areas (p = 0.44). However, attitudes towards castrations of dogs seemed to be more positive in Area 25 than in Area 23. This difference was found to be statistically significant (p=<0.01). Generally, attitudes towards castration of dogs were positive in both areas.

Den här studien undersöker andelen kastrerade hundar samt inställning till kastration av hundar i två områden i Lilongwe, huvudstaden i Malawi. De två områdena, Area 25 och Area 23, jämfördes genom hushållsintervjuer och 200 hushåll intervjuades i varje område. I Area 25 har ett program där gratis kastration erbjudits på utvalda ställen en till två gånger i veckan pågått under några års tid. I Area 23 har inget sådant program funnits. I båda områdena var andelen kastrerade hundar relativt låg; av de vuxna hundarna som ingick i studien var 22 % kastrerade i Area 25 och 28 % i Area 23. Skillnaden i andel kastrerade hundar i de två områdena var inte statistiskt signifikant (p = 0,44). Däremot fanns en signifikant skillnad i inställning till kastration av hundar, där de som bodde i Area 25 i högre grad svarade att de var positivt inställda till kastration än de i Area 23 (p = 0,001). Generellt var de flesta tillfrågade i båda områdena positivt inställda till kastration av hundar. Studien går också igenom en del av litteraturen på området för