Mothers perception of childhood malaria in south eastern Nigeria.

Abstract

Malaria burden is ever increasing. Children in sub – Saharan African countries are the worst hit by the scourge. It is essential that mothers' perception of the disease in the developing world be ascertained to help planners embark on workable programmes to contain the disease especially in the area of mounting public enlightenment campaigns
A cross section survey was carried out in two states, Abia and Anambra States in South Eastern Nigeria. A multi- stage sampling technique was used to select 1260 mothers of under- five children in 6 local government areas (LGAs) in the two states. Trained interviewers conducted the survey using semi-structured questionnaires.
The mean age of the mothers was 30.51±6.76 years. Most respondents (95.8%) had at least a primary school education, and 97.3% of the mothers knew the disease called malaria. The symptoms of malaria recognized by mothers were; fever 87.7% refusal of feeds 36.8% weakness 44.4%, vomiting and diarrhea 8.5% and cough 1.9%. About 76.8% recognized that malaria was transmitted by mosquito bites while 79.8% of the respondents considered malaria as a section illness. The perceived adverse effects of malaria include febrile convulsion 48.9%, paleness of the body (anaemia ) 40.5%, failure to grow 12.3%, loss weight 18% and death 31.1%
A large proportion of the mothers were aware about childhood malaria and its symptoms. A number of them however are unaware of its mode of transmission and adverse effects. It is therefore suggested that malaria control programme should address these issues during health education in malaria control programmes


Keywords: Malaria, childhood malaria mothers' perception

Journal of Biomedical Investigation Vol. 3 (1) 2005: pp. 11-14