The fight against Japanese encephalitis has been a challenge for the past three decades.The people in the rural areas are the target always, Though j.e.effects the children in particular but the family of the effected also suffers a lot. Case studies show that the families face a lot of mental,social and economic stress and it takes a long time for them to recover. Visiting the effected villages it was found that only a few knew about the preventive measures.Surprisingly people in the villages did,nt take it as a serious issue.The present format of the awareness campaigns seemed to be ineffective.
APPL,s visiting team of the experts after visited about 50 villages in the effected areas of districts , Gorakhpur and Maharajganj and had conversations with the effected ,their families and the neighbours .The motive was to know more about the habits of the people residing there . It was found that a majority of the population in spite of all the campaigns had a habit of going to the fields ,nearby passages or roads for defecation. women mostly form groups and they claim it gives them space for sharing. the children also accompany them.Some of them said that they had latrines build at their living places but they felt suffocated .
The other thing marked was the dressing habits of the children . The people are not at all aware of the dangers and had a very casual approach.the children enjoy going to the ponds and the ditches to fetch fishes and to play.This has not changed since generations. The sanitation in the villages also was not proper and the residents and the village authorities were not completely aware of its negative implications.As the people are suffering and facing threat of the j.e. they should be prepared to help themselves by taking precautions and changing their habits. they should be made aware of the fact that the j.e has a relation with the mosquito’s and they should make arrangements for prevention. The awareness campaigns specially designed to educate them and to help them to understand the need of changing their habits will definitely help to change the scenario