Prevalence of malaria and the use of insecticide treated nets and other measures for control of malaria in Ibere Community Ikwuano LGA Abia State, Nigeria

Abstract

Prevalence of malaria and use of insecticide treated nets (ITNs) and other measures for control of malaria was done in Ibere community in Ikwuano LGA, Abia State, Nigeria using structured questionnaires and microscopic examination of blood samples. 300 persons made up of 123 males and 177 females within different age groups from different villages in Ibere had their blood samples collected and microscopically examined for the presence of malaria parasites using thick blood smears. Out of this number 176(58.67 %) were infected. More females (59.88 %) than males (56.90 %) were infected. Location wise, Iberenta recorded the highest prevalence of infection (71.4 %) the least infection rate was Ihim (35.7 %). Highest infection rate occurred in age group 0 – 10 years (68.08 %). Famers (75.83 %) recorded highest infection rate. More than half of the respondents (61.0 %) resorted to drugs for prevention and control of malaria while some used ITNs (25.33 %) and combination of drugs and insecticides (5.0 %). A good number of the study populations (97.76 %) were aware of the existence of ITNs. Amongst them 69.0 % did not have ITNs while (25.33 %) owned and used it. Some reasons given for not having or using ITN were that it was expensive (44.33 %), not available (24.67 %) and are not convenient (3.67 %). It is recommended that the government should intensify awareness and put in place monitoring teams to ensure effective distribution of ITNs to targeted group in the rural malaria endemic community.

Keywords: Prevalence, Insecticide treated net, Preventive and control measures