Knowledge and Practices in the Use of Insecticide Treated Nets in Amanyi, Ihitte-Uboma Local Government Area, Imo State

ABSTRACT

A community-based study was conducted in Amainyi, Ihitte-Uboma LGA, Imo State, Nigeria between July and December 2011.Thesis sought to find out knowledge and practices in the use of malaria and insecticide treated nets for malaria control in Amainyi, Ihitte-Uboma LGA, Imo state. Focus group discussions and in-depth interviews were conducted. A prestructured and pretested questionnaire was administered to the respondents. A sample size of 280 households was drawn from the five villages studied using systematic sampling method. Household heads were also interviewed. Knowledge on malaria transmission, prevention, and treatment was reasonable; eleven respondents (4.5%) possessed one or two nets. One hundred and forty eight (60.7%) of the respondents associated the disease with mosquito bites, while on (131)53.7% had low literacy: Statistical analysis was based on 0.05 level of significance. The most frequently mentioned symptoms of malaria, reported by 121 (49.6%) respondents and 52(21.3%) of the study population were fever and body pains respectively. Malaria was believed to be preventable by 139 (57%) of the respondents. Malaria was also perceived as a main health problem. Despite reasonable knowledge on malaria and its preventive measures, proper health education, promotion of literacy is required for successful control of malaria. High level perception of ITNs should be taken as an advantage to improve malaria control. Concerted effort is needed to scale-up the distribution of insecticide-treated nets and improve the knowledge of the community. The study highlights the need for further research on the human concerns that contribute to sustained use of nets or, conversely, present significant barriers to their use.

Keywords : Malaria, Attitudes, Knowledge, Practices, Insecticide-Treated Nets, Amainyi, Ihitte-Uboma.