Rabies Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Survey Dataset from Lilongwe City, Malawi

This dataset contains data from a community-based cross-sectional Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAP) survey on rabies conducted in Lilongwe City, Malawi, between March and May 2020. The study was designed to assess rabies-related knowledge, attitudes, and preventive practices among urban households.

The survey was conducted in 12 residential areas of Lilongwe City using a systematic household sampling approach (zigzag walk pattern with a fixed skip interval between visits). A total of 392 adult household heads were enrolled and interviewed using a structured interviewer-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire was administered face-to-face in Chichewa by trained interviewers using CSPro on Android devices, with responses entered in English. Each row in the dataset represents one respondent interviewed at a single point in time.

The dataset contains variables on respondent sociodemographic characteristics, dog ownership and vaccination status, rabies awareness and information sources, knowledge of transmission, reservoirs, clinical signs, and prevention. It also includes attitudes toward dog population management and vaccination, as well as self-reported preventive practices following potential rabies exposure. In addition to item-level responses, the dataset provides derived domain scores for knowledge, attitudes, and practices, expressed as raw totals, percentage scores, and performance bands.

This dataset is suitable for descriptive KAP analyses, assessment of sociodemographic correlates of rabies-related knowledge and behaviour, and mediation analysis to evaluate the extent to which attitudes serve as a pathway linking knowledge to rabies-safe practices. The deposit includes the analytical dataset (149 variables) and the survey instrument with its embedded scoring key; full variable documentation is provided in the accompanying README.

No personally identifying information is included in this dataset. Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the Animal Health Committee (reference number DAHLD/AHC/12/2019/1), and all participants provided informed consent prior to data collection.