Factors Influencing Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever Incidence in the Ambacang Primary Health Center Area, Padang: A Critical Review Article

Abstract

Dengue hemorrhagic fever remains a major public health problem in tropical urban settings, where climatic conditions, vector ecology, household environments, and human behavior interact to sustain transmission. This review critically synthesizes a journal appraisal concerning factors influencing dengue hemorrhagic fever incidence in the Ambacang Primary Health Center area of Padang, Indonesia. The reviewed study used a qualitative phenomenological approach with in-depth interviews among seven participants who had experienced dengue hemorrhagic fever. The main finding was a marked gap between knowledge and preventive behavior: participants generally understood dengue symptoms, danger signs, transmission through Aedes mosquitoes, and the importance of prevention, but preventive actions were mostly performed only after personal or family experience of illness. Low routine practice of source reduction, delayed preventive behavior, environmental conditions that support mosquito breeding, and behavior change triggered by negative health experience were identified as important themes. Methodological appraisal showed strengths in contextual exploration but limitations in sample size, selection-bias control, reporting of saturation, triangulation, and transparency of qualitative analysis. This review emphasizes that dengue prevention should move beyond knowledge dissemination toward sustained community engagement, household-level vector control, behavioral reinforcement, and stronger primary health-care surveillance.