Assessment of Ownership and Usage of Insecticide-Treated Nets Among Pregnant Women in Osisioma LGA, Abia State

Abstract

Background: Malaria is a major public health problem with substantial risk for the pregnant woman, her fetus and the newborn child. Sequelae of malaria in pregnancy include maternal anaemia, intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR), low birth weight, and premature deliveries among others. Insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) has been seen to play a role as an intermittent preventive method and should be adopted for optimal healthy life practices.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to determine the ownership and usage of ITNs among pregnant women in Osisioma LGA, Abia State.

Method: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study of the assessment of ownership and usage of ITNs among 253 pregnant women in Osisioma LGA, Abia State. Data was collected using questionnaires and was analyzed using SPSS V22.0

Results: In this study, the mean age of the women is 30.00years +/- SD [and the standard deviation is] 41.65. Respondents were predominantly married (56.5%), 38.3% single, 4.3% widowed and 0.8% separated/divorced. As regards their occupation, 43.9% were civil-servants, 39.9% self-employed and 16.2% unemployed. More than half of the subjects (76.3%) have attained a tertiary education, 15.4% secondary, 4.3% primary and 4% had no formal education.

 Out of the respondents, the mean age of the women is 30.0 years and SD is 41.65. Respondents were predominantly married (56.5%) while the unmarried (38.3), divorced (0.8%), and widowed 4.3%. .43.9% were civil servants while self-employed represented (39.9%), with more than half (76.3%) having attained a tertiary education, primary education 4.3%, secondary 15.4% and no level of education, 4%?. 97.2% of the women have heard of ITNs while 2.8% have not heard, with major sources of information coming from the hospital/health centers (69%), mass media (15.7%) and friends and relatives (15.3%). Majority of the respondents own at least one ITN (71.1%). Most of their sources of acquisition came from health facility (66.4%), while the rest got from the market (10.75%) and pharmacy shops (5.1%). Out of those that owned, majority of the women use ITNs (78.3%). Most women who do not use it claimed it causes heat (64.7%), the rest claimed it causes rashes (10.5%) and some don’t relax with it (6%). There is a statistical significance between respondents’ level of education and knowledge of ITNs as p-value is <0.05. According to the study, there is a high level of knowledge (97.2%) on ITNs with a good ITN ownership (71.1%)  and use (78.3% of population who own ITN).

Conclusion: This study generated information on the knowledge, ownership and usage of ITNs among pregnant women in Osisioma where it showed a high knowledge on ITNs fair ITN ownership and usage.

Issues such as discomfort and rashes during usage were seen as factors decreasing the utilization rate. Proper information on utilization of ITNs should be made available to these pregnant women especially in Ante-natal clinics to further increase the utilization rate.