A survey was carried out in the population of Bisnupur Blocks I and II in the south 24 parganas district of West Bengal to find out the level of general knowledge and awareness about TB and also the prevalent social attitudes towards the disease. The target population was classified into two broad groups comprising persons living within and outside the research project area respectively. The results showed that the general knowledge of TB was high in both groups and about 24% of the new patients did not know the correct duration of treatment. The majority of people interviewed, favored hospitalization of the TB patients and the patients' belief that consuming anti-TB drugs without taking a high protein diet was futile contributed to default on drug collection. Women with TB denied breast-milk to their babies, making the babies vulnerable to different diseases including TB. Health education increased the awareness of TB while negative social attitudes for TB patients persisted because most people were not convinced of the curability of the disease.

The above findings led to the conclusion that community leaders should be actively involved in any TB control programme and that health education should be an important component of the TB programme.