The public university as an agent of awareness in zoonotic parasitic diseases: description of an action at the Veterinary Medicine Hospital of UFBA

Abstract

Understanding parasitic diseases and their relationship to One Health is crucial, as the relationships between people and pets are increasingly closer. In this context, the need arose to understand parasitic diseases among those responsible for dogs and cats attending the Veterinary Medicine Hospital of the Federal University of Bahia and their content preferences regarding printed and audiovisual educational materials. This work aimed to produce educational materials about parasitic diseases that communicated clearly, objectively, and illustratively with the lay public who own animals and attend HOSPMEV. Three editions of two outreach projects were carried out, producing educational videos and brochures about parasitic diseases. An initial questionnaire was used to understand the audience's preferences, and a final questionnaire was used to gather perceptions of the materials produced. The sample for the first approach consisted of 70 individuals, and the second approach had 275 responses. The educational activities carried out at HOSPMEV proved effective in informing the community about parasitic diseases with zoonotic potential and were well received by the public, where 95,3% said they learned something new by watching the videos and 93,5% said they learned something new from the printed materials.