Perceived Impact of Recent Dengue Outbreak in Kathmandu from Service Providers and Consumers Perspective

Abstract

Background: The first case of dengue in Nepal was recorded in Chitwan in 2005. Since 2006, Nepal has had annual outbreakss with previous largest outbreak in 2019 with 18,000 recorded cases, 42,504 reported cases in 2022 and 51 confirmed deaths. Dengue imposes significant economic and societal burdens on countries where the disease is endemic. The objectives of this study were to explore the perceived social impact of dengue experienced by health service providers and receiver from previous dengue outbreak.
Methods: A cross-sectional exploratory qualitative design was used to conduct the study in Kathmandu and Lalitpur Metropolitan City with the sample size of 16. Primary data were collected from two categories of respondents; Key informant interviews with health service providers and In-depth interviews with health service consumers using purposive sampling technique.
Results: The findings from the healthcare consumer’s perspective showed how dengue had affected them physically, socially, and financially. Likewise, healthcare providers discussed their methods for dealing with dengue outbreaks and stressed the importance of having a well-prepared plan, protocols, and effective government responses in place.
Conclusions: The research provides insight into the need for coordinated efforts from all three tiers of government to implement preventive strategies for vector control so that its negative impact on physical health of affected people, financial and social burden could be minimized effectively. In addition, various challenges like inadequacy of human resources, logistics, increasing workload, and mental stress among health workers were highlighted.
Keywords: Dengue; impact; perspective; service consumers; service providers.