Awareness and Measures Utilized by Pregnant Women in the Prevention of Malaria in Sub-urban Communities in Eket Local Government Area

Author(s): Emem Okon Mbong, Ekom Ndifreke Edem, Sajjad Hussain

Malaria remains one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in Nigeria because the environment favours the multiplication of the parasite causing the disease. About 70% of pregnant women suffer from malaria, which contributes to maternal anemia, low birth weight, still birth, abortions and other pregnancy related complication. Prevention of malaria during pregnancy is a major priority for the roll back malaria partnership. A structured questionnaire was used to elicit information on the knowledge and utilization of malaria preventive strategies amongst five hundred (500) pregnant women randomly selected for the study. The respondent’s knowledge on malaria and its preventive measures was calculated and analyzed using MS excel suite. More than 50% of the respondents were aware of the common signs and symptoms of malaria. Out of 500 respondents, 383 (76.6%) were aware of mosquito bite as the mood of transmission, 22 (4.4%) said mother to the growing fetus (Congenital malaria) and 13 (2.6%) said blood transfusion from an infected persons. Only 30% of the respondents said yes to treatment of malaria with herbs while 70% preferred treatment using antimalarial drugs like Artesunate and artemether. About 62% use mosquito nets, 68% have door screens, 84.6% use spray insecticides, 2.25% use mosquito coils as prevention methods. The hope is that this information will be useful in pin-pointing the necessary health education and intervention strategies in preventing the malaria in Eket Local Government.

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