Improving ability to identify malaria and correctly use chloroquine in children at household level in Nakonde District, Northern Province of Zambia

Abstract

Background: This study investigated causes of malaria and how cases were managed at household level, in order to improve the ability to identify malaria and ensure correct use of chloroquine. It was conducted in Nakonde District, Northern Province of Zambia, between 2000 and 2001. Nakonde district is in a hyperendemic malaria province, where Plasmodium falciparum is predominant. The district has a total population of 153, 548 people, the majority of whom are peasant farmers. The main aim of the post intervention survey was to establish the proportion of caretakers of children five years and below, who were able to identify simple and severe malaria and treat it correctly using chloroquine in the home.

Knowledge, attitudes and practices in the control and prevention of malaria in four endemic provinces of Zambia

“…17,36 Kaona and Tuba found that training motivators and vendors were contributing to compliance with standard therapeutic doses and correct identification of malaria. 11 Another study showed that community health education can help improve health seeking behaviour. 37 Additionally, other studies revealed that illiteracy with regards to health education 31 is an important factor to guiding behaviour change messages, 32,33,38 and [Mwanje, personal communication, 2013] as well as taking socioeconomic and sociocultural aspects of particular communities into consideration in developing tailor-made interventions to avoid disrupting economic and cultural activities, and hence succeed with community commitment.…”

“…6 Knowledge studies have been conducted in Zambia from as far back as the late 1990s, 7,8 and contribute to the understanding of community determinants of malaria; although, as in Swaziland, 9 it is only recently that the importance of these studies has been recognised for use in control efforts in Zambia. 10,11 The nation has also made strides in reaching the global World Health Organisation (WHO) targets in control, 12 including long-lasting insecticide-treated net (ITN) distribution, high indoor residual spray (IRS) coverage and treatment.…”

Fairness and legitimacy of decisions during delivery of malaria services and ITN interventions in zambia

“…Although malaria medicines dispensed within public health facilities and consultancy were free for all in rural areas, the frequent experience of receiving a prescription instead of medicines probably contributed to the widespread self-medication practices reported by participants. Self-medication has been found to contribute to impromptu and ineffective treatment of malaria infections [ 31 ]. Studies from several African countries have also found inequitable ownership and utilization of ITNs as indicated by participants in this study [ 32 - 38 ].…”

Improvements in access to malaria treatment in Tanzania following community, retail sector and health facility interventions -- a user perspective

“…Interventions reviewed included optimizing case-management and services in health facilities [ 4 - 8 ] or improving dispensing practices of drug shop attendants and private practitioners [ 9 - 14 ] as well as community based approaches [ 15 - 17 ]. Two general approaches to improving user malaria treatment practices have been pursued: 1) health education campaigns; [ 18 , 19 ] and 2) interventions that specifically provide information on how to take anti-malarials [ 20 ], including pre-packaging and pictorial and verbal instructions [ 21 - 23 ]. The main finding from the review is that most interventions so far have been conducted on a rather small scale and that few have been appropriately evaluated.…”