Knowledge, perception and practices about malaria, climate change, livelihoods and food security among rural communities of central Tanzania

Abstract

BackgroundUnderstanding the interactions between malaria and agriculture in Tanzania is of particular significance when considering that they are the major sources of illness and livelihoods. The objective of this study was to determine knowledge, perceptions and practices as regards to malaria, climate change, livelihoods and food insecurity in a rural farming community in central Tanzania.MethodsUsing a cross-sectional design, heads of households were interviewed on their knowledge and perceptions on malaria transmission, symptoms and prevention and knowledge and practices as regards to climate change and food security.ResultsA total of 399 individuals (mean age = 39.8 ± 15.5 years) were interviewed. Most (62.41%) of them had attained primary school education and majority (91.23%) were involved in crop farming activities. Nearly all (94.7%) knew that malaria is acquired through a mosquito bite. Three quarters (73%) reported that most people get sick from malaria during the rainy season. About 50% of the respondents felt that malaria had decreased during the last 10 years. The household coverage of insecticide treated mosquito nets (ITN) was high (95.5%). Ninety-six percent reported to have slept under a mosquito net the previous night. Only one in four understood the official Kiswahili term (Mabadiliko ya Tabia Nchi) for climate change. However, there was a general understanding that the rain patterns have changed in the past 10 years. Sixty-two percent believed that the temperature has increased during the same period. Three quarters of the respondents reported that they had no sufficient production from their own farms to guarantee food security in their household for the year. Three quarters (73.0%) reported to having food shortages in the past five years. About half said they most often experienced severe food shortage during the rainy season.ConclusionFarming communities in Kilosa District have little knowledge on climate change and its impact on malaria burden. Food insecurity is common and community-based strategies to mitigate this need to be established. The findings call for an integrated control of malaria and food insecurity interventions.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40249-015-0052-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Addressing vulnerability, building resilience: community-based adaptation to vector-borne diseases in the context of global change

“…A second community-based study in Tanzania emphasized the need to better link livelihoods, food security and malaria control as they are impacted by climate change. This included the need to scale-up and extend current approaches, and foster collaboration between the agriculture and health sectors [ 98 ].…”

Home treatment and use of informal market of pharmaceutical drugs for the management of paediatric malaria in Cotonou, Benin

“…Diarrhoea was poorly known as a malaria symptom and was rarely mentioned in Tanzania [39] and Nigeria [40]. Furthermore, the proportions of respondents who perceived vomiting as a symptom of malaria varies across studies, from low (8.8%) in Lagos, Nigeria among pregnant women [41], to varying from 17.6% to 32.4% in households in four selected districts of the Central African Republic [42].…”

Knowledge of Communities about Malaria Control Strategies in Lindi Urban District, Tanzania

“…Presumably, they tend to protect themselves when using mosquito nets against the nuisance of stinging of mosquitos rather than against malaria because of the perception that mosquitoes are not the only cause. Furthermore, low level of knowledge is not unique to this paper; other researchers in Tanzania, Nigeria and Zimbabwe observed low knowledge and awareness of causes of malaria and its prevention in communities [8][9][10]. Consequently, communities do not understand and distinguish causes and transmission of malaria, including the environment in which mosquito thrive.…”

“…This could help members of the communities to build their own capacities and take initiatives to combat the disease. However, other studies show high level of awareness of knowledge about malaria in Tanzania, Iran and Cameroon, in spite of the steadiness of morbidity due to the disease [8][9][10][11][12]. These researchers advanced the argument for morbidity on the following reasons: unstrained availability of antimalarial medicines to the public; delayed health seeking tendencies; and prescription of antimalarial medication that are symptoms dependent.…”