STATUS OF MALARIA AND UTILIZATION OF INSECTICIDETREATED BED NETS AMONG RURAL PEOPLE IN HABRU WOREDA, NORTH WOLLO ZONE, AMHARA REGION, ETHIOPIA

Human malaria is a common and life-threatening disease in many tropical and sub tropical areas. Consequently, malaria epidemics are serious public health emergencies. ITNs (Insecticide Treated bed Nets) are the most powerful malaria control tool. The utilization of ITNs is still unacceptably low among rural people. Thus, the objectives of the present study were to assess the prevalence of malaria, to determine the predominant Plasmodium species among the study participants and to assess peoples’ knowledge about utilization of ITNs among rural people in Habru Kebeles community. A across sectional survey study was conducted. A systemic random sampling method was used to select 403 study participants for questionnaire and parasitological blood examination. The study was conducted during October to December 2016 in Habru Kebeles. Clinical records of malaria were used to analyse the trends of malaria in the last five years (2011-2015). Diagnosis of malaria infection was done using microscopic examination of thick and thin Giemsa stained blood smears for the presence of malaria parasite and plasmodium species identification. Additionally, structured and pretested questionnaires were used to assess the socio demographic characteristics, respondents’ knowledge about ITNs utilization and knowledge about malaria in the study area. The results showed that 76.7% of the study participants had ITNs; the knowledge about utilization of ITN was not high, where 51.6% of the study participants scored greater than 50% of the assessment questions; and the study participants knowledge about sign and symptoms of malaria were high. Microscopic examinations of blood samples showed that, the prevalence of malaria parasite was 16(4.0%) in study area and P. vivax and P. falciparum were the dominant malaria parasites accounting for 2.5% and 1.5% respectively, in the study population. The prevalence of malaria is more in males than in females. Data obtained from the health centre records about malaria outpatients in study area showed that malaria infections were frequently occurring almost throughout the year and every month.