Community knowledge, attitude and practice about malaria in a low endemic setting of Shewa Robit Town, northeastern Ethiopia

Abstract

BackgroundSince malaria is one of the foremost public health problems in Ethiopia, assessment of situation of the disease, and communities’ knowledge and perceptions about malaria is necesary to institute appropriate preventive and control measures. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess malaria prevalence and knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) about the disease among ShewaRobit Town community, northeastern Ethiopia.MethodsA community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Shewa Robit Town from October to November 2011. A multi-stage random sampling technique was used to select the study participants. A total of 425 individuals were examined for malaria using thin and thick Giemsa stained blood film, and 284 of the participants were interviewed to assess their KAP about malaria. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess predictor factors for malaria prevalence.ResultsAll respondents had ever heard of malaria. Most of the respondents (85.2%) attributed the cause of malaria to mosquito bite. However, some of the respondents (>20%) mentioned lack of personal hygiene, exposure to cold weather, hunger, chewing maize stalk, body contact with malaria patient and flies as the causes of malaria. Sleeping under mosquito nets, draining stagnant water and indoor residual spraying were the most frequently mentioned malaria preventive measures perceived and practiced by the respondents. Among 425 individuals examined for malaria, only 2.8% were positive for Plasmodium parasites. Living in houses made of wall without hole, sprayed with insecticide within the last 12 hours and located at a distance of greater than 500 meters from potential mosquito breeding sites as well as knowing and using of mosquito net were significant predictors of low malaria prevalence among the study participants.ConclusionsA high level of knowledge about the cause, transmission and preventive methods of malaria was detected among the community in Shewa Robit Town. However, a considerable proportion had misconception about the cause and transmission of malaria suggesting the necessity of health education to raise the community’s awareness about the disease.

The Study on the Awareness, Knowledge and Perception of Malaria among Selected Secondary School Students in Akure Metropolis, Nigeria

“…This was not surprising because Nigeria is a holoendemic region of malaria and all the respondents have been infected with malaria before. This is agreement with the reports from other studies [9,10]. The massive education campaign about effective treatment of malaria was known to show significantly among the respondents where large population of the respondents prefer treating their malaria infection in the hospital while just few proportion of the population adopt the use of concoction in treating malaria.…”

Malaria elimination practices in rural community residents in Rwanda: A cross sectional study

“…Positive attitude demonstrated by participants in this study by sleeping in bed nets is similar to findings from Ethiopia that showed that the participants believed that mosquito nets protect from mosquito bite (Abate et al, 2013). The study conducted by (Karunamoorthi & Kumera, 2010) indicated that the majority of the respondent visit health care facilities once they felt seek.…”

“…(Mazigo et al, 2010a). Limited use of insecticide treated nets and close location of homesteads in relation to breeding sites have been recognized as risk factors for malaria transmission (Chirebvu, Chimbari, & Ngwenya, 2014) In Sub Saharan Africa, numerous studies (Abate, Degarege, & Erko, 2013;Chirebvu, Chimbari, & Ngwenya, 2013;Opare et al, 2014;Spjeldnaes, Kitua, & Blomberg, 2014) have reported on community residents' knowledge about the cause, signs and symptoms, transmission and preventive methods of malaria. Many studies in Rwanda have reported about the prevalence and risk factors related to malaria, and community mobilisation for malaria elimination as well as factors impeding the acceptability and the use of malaria preventive measures (Gahutu et al, 2011;Ingabire et al, 2014;Ingabire et al, 2015;Kateera et al, 2015;Rulisa et al, 2013).…”

Community Health Workers’ Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices Regarding Malaria Control and Prevention in Bamenda, Cameroon: A Community Based Study

“…We did not find previous studies done on CHWs' knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding malaria prevention both locally and globally. Most studies we found were done on community members KAP on malaria prevention and control in Italy [18], Iran [16], Ethiopia [22,28] and Nigeria [23].…”