Knowledge of Childhood Malaria Prevention and Outcome of Untreated Childhood Malaria Among Mothers/Caregivers of Under-Five Children in Ibadan, Nigeria

Objective

Nigeria is a malaria-endemic area and malaria is the principal cause of childhood mortality as it kills one child every 2 minutes. Adequate knowledge of malaria transmission, symptoms, preventive measures, treatment and consequences of untreated malaria by mothers or caregivers is essential in combating the disease. Therefore, the study investigated Nigerian mothers’/caregivers’ knowledge of malaria prevention and outcome of untreated malaria among under-5 children.

Methods

Descriptive cross-sectional design was adopted, simple random sampling technique was utilized to select one hundred and thirty-two (132) caregivers/mothers from mothers attending Infant welfare clinic in University College Hospital, Ibadan. Self-administered structured questionnaire was used for data collection which was coded and analysed using SPSS -21.

Result

The study reveals that 57(43.2%) of the respondents have good knowledge of malaria prevention, 90(68.2%) take good malaria preventives measures and 68(51.5%) have good knowledge of outcome of untreated malaria. The findings reveal that mothers/caregivers age, marital status, monthly income, parity and educational status are not significantly (p=0.93; p=0.556; p=0.121; 0.712 and p=0.129) associated with knowledge of childhood malaria prevention. Also, mothers/caregivers age, gender, relationship, marital status, monthly income and parity are not significantly (p=0.09; p=0.276; p=0.470; p=0663; p=0.886 and p=0.200) associated with knowledge of outcome of untreated malaria while their educational status is significantly (p=0.012) associated. Also, knowledge of childhood malaria prevention was significantly (p < 0.001) associated with knowledge of outcome of untreated malaria among under-five children.

Conclusion

Quite a number of mothers/caregivers of under-five children have poor knowledge of malaria preventives measures which translates into poor practice of preventive measures. Thus, knowledge of preventive measures is associated with knowledge of outcome of untreated childhood malaria.

Keywords: Knowledge, Malaria, Prevention, Under-five children, Child mortality

Author(s): Margaret O. Akinwaare1*, Anthonia P. Ekpe2, Mary O. Abiona3

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