Bird flu - research into people's awareness & concern in Saudi Arabia & the UAE

These diseases are fatal and unusual as the pathogens seem to have the ability to mutate and jump across species of animals; something we did not think was possible earlier.

More recently perhaps, diseases that have caught our collective attention, especially with TV networks vying for prime-time coverage, have been 'mad cow' disease, and SARS.

Today, our attention is focused on 'Bird Flu' and it may turn out to be as deadly, if not more so, than some of the diseases mentioned. It has been over a year since the outbreak of 'Bird Flu' in the Far East, and there are real concerns about the flu mutating to affect humans on a global scale. Cases of people dying from exposure to infected fowl have been reported.

The spread of this disease follows the migratory paths of wild fowl and has now entered Europe & Turkey, and there are reports that it may also exist in some GCC countries. Global reporting of the potential of a worldwide bird flu & mutation to a human form has been regular front page news.

TNS felt the need to gauge the levels of awareness & concern about Bird Flu in two key GCC markets - Saudi Arabia & the UAE.

Main findings

The findings published here are based on total country levels with sample sizes of 1,000 and 450 in Saudi and the UAE respectively. The findings of each country by other breaks like nationality, age and gender are available on request.

Question: When you think of unnatural pandemic diseases, which such diseases come to your mind?

High proportions of people in both Saudi (73%) & UAE (66%) spontaneously mentioned Bird Flu. Other diseases mentioned in Saudi included 'mad cow' (37%) and 'foot & mouth' (21%), and in the UAE 'mad cow' (17%).

When respondents were specifically asked if they had heard of Bird Flu, awareness was near universal (KSA - 91% & UAE - 89%) - not surprising perhaps given wide and recent media coverage of Bird Flu.

Interestingly, the UAE scored lower than Saudi due to lower awareness levels among Asians.

Question: Can you tell me the names of countries that have been affected by the Bird Flu disease?

Without a doubt respondents in Saudi (83%) and the UAE (78%) feel that the countries that have been most affected by Bird Flu are in the Far East (Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore & Japan).

Perhaps not surprising given recent Bird Flu reports in Kuwait & Saudi, the next group of countries that are seen to have been most affected is the GCC (Saudi, UAE & Kuwait) - 20% & 16% among Saudi and UAE respondents respectively.

To a smaller extent, the West (UK, USA & Germany) is also viewed as having been affected by Bird Flu (Saudi - 14%; UAE - 9%).

Question: How long do you expect it to take for the Bird Flu outbreak to become a real problem in this country, if at all?

Findings from this question suggests low 'concern' levels with half (50%) of respondents in Saudi and almost a third (32%) in the UAE are confident that Bird Flu will never become a problem in their respective countries; and many have no opinion at all (Saudi 32% & UAE 51%) - Chart 1.

Relatively, more Asians in UAE have 'no opinion' on this issue.

Question: I will now read out a list of statements related to Bird Flu. As I read out each, please tell me how strongly you agree or disagree with the statement. (5 pt. scale)

Though we have seen at an overall level that Bird Flu is not expected to become a big problem in this region, people do believe it is contagious, have chosen to eat less poultry and are likely to change travel plans to avoid affected countries.

In addition, they also expect their respective governments to take precautionary measures like: banning import of birds from other countries, all vaccinated against bird flu, and borders to be closed.

The chart below highlights the percentage of people who agree strongly/slightly, separately for respondents in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.



In conclusion, people in Saudi Arabia and the UAE are not yet unduly alarmed at the spread of Bird Flu or that it will never become a real problem in their respective country.

However, post the completion of data collection for this short exercise, reports of wild/pet birds (falcons) in Saudi Arabia contracting Bird Flu disease have been widely circulated in the media and future measures of awareness, and particularly concern, would undoubtedly rise further.

Methodology

TNS Tracker Plus is a continuous brand health monitoring tool and a rider was used to carry 5 questions on Bird Flu. Fieldwork was conducted in the months of Dec '05 to Jan '06 in Saudi Arabia (n=1,000) and the UAE (n=450). Standard quotas were applied for sample representation to the population distribution for nationality, gender & age. Target respondent definitions in both countries were: Nationality - Local Arab, Expat Arab (ELPJS), Asian (Indian, Pakistani), Gender - Male, Female, Age - 15 - 49 years.

The findings published in this article are based on data filtered on age 20 - 49 years, in both KSA and UAE.