Knowledge, attitude, and practice of university students towards prevention of measles, mumps and rubella

Measles, mumps and rubella are acute viral diseases that can cause serious disease and complications of disease but can be prevented with vaccination. In Malaysia, two doses of MMR vaccine was implemented in 2002 with the first dose given to children at age 12 months and second dose given to standard one studentsthrough school-immunization program. These diseases are highly contagious and university students have high risk for exposure and transmission of these disease. The objective of this study was to determine the knowledge, attitude and practice of measles, mumps, rubella and prevention among UITM PuncakAlam students.This study was conducted from April until June 2015. Pre-tested and validated questionnaires were filled by students from Faculty of Accountancy (n=l 73) and Business Management (n=l 75) .. The results showed that the overall level of knowledge on measles, mumps, rubella and its prevention among respondents was intermediate and majority of them had neutral attitude towards MMR vaccination. Very few students (12.4%) had fully vaccinated with two doses of MMR vaccine.About half of the students (56.6%) willing to take MMR vaccination if provided at campus.Those who were unlikely to be vaccinated if provided at campus mainly because afraid of vaccine side effect (37.1 %). As conclusion, the knowledge and attitude of the respondents were intermediate and neutral, respectively. Only few students that fully vaccinated with two doses of MMR vaccine. Thus, awareness campaign and catch up MMR vaccine should be provided at universities' campuses in order to improve students' knowledge, attitude and practice toward measles, mumps, rubella and MMR vaccination.