Community Perceptions and Practices in Management of Malaria in Under-five Children in Rivers State in Nigeria
| Autor: | Tobin-West, C. I., Seye Babatunde |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2012 |
| Zdroj: | International Journal of Health Research; Vol 4, No 3 (2011); 127-133 Scopus-Elsevier International Journal of Health Research; Vol 4, No 4 (2012); 127-133 |
| ISSN: | 1596-9819 |
| Popis: | Purpose: To determine baseline information on the perceptions of thecauses and treatment of fevers suspected to be malaria in children less than five years in Rivers State, Nigeria in order to inform policyrecommendations that will improve malaria control programme in the State.Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in nine local governmentareas of the State through a multi-staged sampling, among parents andcaregivers. Interviews were carried out using a questionnaire on malariainformation adapted from WHO/ Federal Ministry of Health. Data wasanalyzed using Epi-Info v6.04d software, and descriptive statistics werecomputed with 95% Confidence Intervals for statistical inferences.Results: A total of 811 mothers/caregivers participated in the survey. Ofthese, 76.3% (95% CI=73.3–79.2) were aware that mosquitoes causesmalaria fever. Fever was the commonest illness reported among childrenunder five years two weeks preceding the survey (62.9%, 95% CI=59.5–66.2). Majority of the caregivers (94.1%) reported taking actions within 24hours of a child’s febrile illness by giving medications at home with drugspurchased from Patent Medicine Vendors rather than visiting a nearbyhealth centre for treatment (53.3% (95% CI=49.6–57.0) versus 26.8% (95% CI=23.4–30.2). However, the drug mostly used for treatment waschloroquine sulfate (33.6%, 95% CI=30.1–37.2) instead of artemisininbased combined drugs 18.9%, 95% CI=16.8 – 21.9),Conclusion: Caregivers knowledge and response time to fever wasreassuring that children can be reached promptly with more effective antimalaria treatment like artemisinin-based drugs, if community-directedmanagement options that utilizes trained community-based volunteers were introduced. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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