Article Sidebar
Published:
Dec 13, 2016Keywords:
Article Details
The Journal is owned, published, and copyrighted by the Nigerian Medical Association, River state Branch. The copyright of papers published are vested in the journal and the publisher. Open access authors retain the copyrights of their papers, with the work three months after publication simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (Attribution, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives” 4.0) - (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Main Article Content
Methods employed in the prevention and treatment of malaria among pregnant women in a riverine community in Bayelsa State, Nigeria
Abstract
Background: Malaria remains a major public health problem in Nigeria and is the most common cause of hospital attendance in all age groups, of which children and pregnant women are the major risk groups; therefore this study was designed to explore various methods of prevention and treatment of malaria among pregnant women in riverine community in Bayelsa State, Nigeria.
Method: A descriptive cross-sectional survey was used for the study and a pre-tested structured questionnaire was administered to 180 respondents’ selected using purposive sampling technique. Results were presented as tables and charts.
Results: The study revealed that majority of the respondents were within 16-25years, with a minimum age of 16yrs, maximum age of 45yrs and a mean of 30yrs. More than half of the respondents agreed that malaria can be transmitted to the fetus and can lead to intrauterine fetal death. Most of the respondents used more than one preventive measures and the most commonly used methods employed in the prevention of malaria by the respondents were window and door nets (83.3%); clearing of bushes (72.2%), insecticide treated nets (ITNs) (67.2%) snapper(66.7%); insecticide spray (66.7%). Despite the fact that a good number of the respondents (91.7%) claimed to use drugs when they have malaria, most of which were prescribed by medical practitioners; only few of the respondents (31.7%) used prophylactic anti-malaria drugs during pregnancy.
Conclusion: Findings above revealed that, majority of the respondents had adequate knowledge of malaria and its consequences in pregnancy, and also employed good methods in the prevention and treatment of malaria. However, some of the respondents still used crude methods such as pouring kerosene in stagnant water, burning of bushes, and use of herbs, native chalk and broom etc in the prevention and treatment of malaria which may be detrimental to healthand often ineffective. Therefore, there is need to concentrate on health education of these women on the hazards associated with the crude methods as well as importance of intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) during pregnancy so as to achieve effective control of malaria among pregnant women.
Keywords: Malaria prevention, Malaria treatment, Pregnant women
