Knowledge, attitudes and practices of malaria amongst pregnant women in Aba South Local Government Area, Abia State, Nigeria

Abstract

Malaria during pregnancy poses a substantial risk to mother and foetus especially in sub Saharan Africa. The study was therefore carried out to assess the knowledge, attitude and home based practices towards malaria among pregnant women attending antenatal care in Aba South Local Government Area, Abia State. Data was collected from 432 pregnant women who attended Primary Health Care Centre and Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH) using structured questionnaires. Majority of the respondents 230(53.2 %) had good knowledge on the causes of malaria. Regarding symptoms associated with malaria in pregnancy, the respondents had varied opinion which included fever (47.2 %), headache (22.2 %), cold (13.2 %) amongst others with corresponding increase in the level of education. Quite a good number of the respondents correctly identified possible risk associated with malaria in pregnancy to include jaundice (51.6 %), anaemia (19.7 %), still birth (2.1 %) among many others. Many of the respondents alluded to visiting health centres (36.3 %), while a few others resorted to self-medication (17.1 %). The study therefore reveals the need to enlighten women of child bearing age on the usefulness of adequate and prompt preventive therapy to reduce the risk of malaria infection during pregnancy.

Keywords: Malaria, Pregnant women, Knowledge, Attitude, Practices, Aba South, Nigeria