Malaria-related beliefs and behaviour in southern Ghana: implications for treatment, prevention and control

Ahorlu, Collins; Dunyo, Samuel; Afari, Edwin; Koram, Kwadwo A.; Nkrumah, Francis

doi:10.1046/j.1365-3156.1997.d01-298.x

Cited by 94 publications

(139 citation statements)

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“…This observation is similar with other studies done in Tanzania [20][21][22], Eritrea [23], and Sudan [24]. None of the pregnant women indicated that they have visited traditional healers as reported in other studies [25][26][27] or village health team (VHT) member to seek for treatment. Also, none of the respondent mentioned that they use herbs to treat malaria as reported in other studies [21,27].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Prevalence of Malaria and Treatment Seeking Behaviours among Pregnant Women in Postconflict Internally Displaced Persons' Camps in Gulu District

2012

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Background. Malaria is a serious health problem that contributes greatly to morbidity and mortality in Uganda. It mainly affects pregnant women and children under 5 years of age. Malaria accounts for 9-14% of inpatient deaths in public and private not-forprofit health facilities in Uganda. Methods. A cross-sectional study using quantitative data collection technique was carried out in Gulu district IDP camps. Proportion to size cluster sampling method was used to determine the numbers of pregnant women to be interviewed per IDP camp. We interviewed 769 pregnant women from 20 IDP camps using consecutive sampling methods by moving to the next nearest household. Results. 372(49%) of respondents indicated that they had suffered from malaria in the past two months. 348(94%) respondents got treatment for malaria. 299(86%) sought treatment from a health facility, 35 (10%) sought treatment from clinic, and 14(4%) sought treatment from drug shops. Factors associated with treatment seeking were experience of miscarriage (χ 2 = 3.87, P value = 0.049) and antenatal visit (χ 2 = 4.71, P value = 0.029). Conclusion. The prevalence of malaria was high among the respondents at about half. Majority of the respondents sought treatment from health facilities while a few of them sought treatment for malaria from clinic and drug shop. Pregnant women should be advised to seek treatment whenever they have malaria from health facility to ensure that the treatment given is appropriate. BackgroundMalaria during pregnancy is a major public health problem in tropical and subtropical regions throughout the world [1,2]. Malaria causes serious illness and death amongst children and pregnant women [3]. There are between 300 and 500 million malaria infections and 1 million malaria-attributed deaths worldwide each year [4,5]. The global malaria burden is not evenly distributed with Sub-Saharan Africa accounting for 90% of global malaria cases [6][7][8][9], and a majority of these cases occur among pregnant women and children [3,10]. Malaria adversely impacts on maternal health causing malaria-related anaemia [11,12] and accounts for 20% of all childhood deaths in Africa [13].In Uganda, malaria is a serious health problem that contributes greatly to morbidity and mortality. It mainly affects pregnant women and children under 5 years of age [14][15][16]. Malaria accounts for 25-40% of outpatient visits, 20% of inpatient admissions, and 9-14% of inpatient deaths in public and private not-for-profit health facilities. Malaria and malaria-related illnesses contribute to 20-23% of deaths among children aged less than five years [16]. Some of the reasons for this poor state included limited access to adequate treatment of malaria/fever, increasing resistance of malaria parasites to medicines, and incorrect and/or inadequate malaria treatment at home or within communities [16,17]. We therefore conducted a cross-sectional study by asking pregnant women verbally whether they have ever suffered from malaria during the past two months prior to the survey in ...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Prevalence of Malaria and Treatment Seeking Behaviours among Pregnant Women in Postconflict Internally Displaced Persons' Camps in Gulu District

2012

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“…All parasitological and entomological data was analyzed with the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) [8]. Proportions were compared using the chi-square or t-test.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental factors affecting malaria parasite prevalence in rural Bolifamba, South- West Cameroon

Nkuo‐Akenji

Ntonifor²,

Ndukum³

et al. 2008

African Journal of Health Sciences

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SUMMARYThe impact of some environmental factors on malaria parasite prevalence was investigated in rural Bolifamba, Cameroon. The study population comprised 1454 subjects aged 0 -65 years. Malaria parasite prevalence was higher in the rainy (50.1%) than in the dry season (44.2%) with a significant difference (P=0.001) in mean parasite density between seasons. Individuals <15 years old, had significantly higher malaria parasite prevalence (55.5%) than those >15 years (37.4%). Malaria parasite prevalence (P=0.001) and parasite density (P=0.03) were higher in the individuals of wooden plank houses than those of cement brick houses. Inhabitants of houses surrounded by bushes or garbage heaps and swamps or stagnant water showed higher malaria parasite prevalence and densities compared with those from cleaner surroundings. Anopheles gambiae (63.8%) and A. funestus (32.8%) were associated with perennial transmission of malaria. Our data indicates that poor environmental sanitation and housing conditions may be significant risk factors for malaria parasite burden in Bolifamba.

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“…[5][6][7]13,[18][19][20][21][22] One concern about the use of interview surveys to estimate morbidity and drug use is their amenability to bias. 23,24 How well does the occurrence of illness episodes and drug use reported in questionnaire surveys correspond to the occurrence of such episodes measured using biomedical criteria?…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anti-malarial drug use among preschool children in an area of seasonal malaria transmission in Kenya.

Verhoef¹,

Hodgins²,

Eggelte³

et al. 1999

The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

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Abstract. The aims of this study were to estimate the proportion of asymptomatic Kenyan preschool children using anti-malarial drugs, to identify factors associated with chloroquine use, and to assess the validity of frequency of febrile episodes and drug use reported by mothers or carers. Of 318 children studied, 38% (95% confidence interval [CI] ϭ 30-47%]) tested positive for chloroquine or sulfadoxine. Of chloroquine-positive children, 15% had concentrations exceeding the estimated minimum therapeutically effective values. Among those testing negative for sulfadoxine, chloroquine-positive children were more frequently parasitemic (odds ratio ϭ 2.6, 95% CI ϭ 1.3-5.2), and had lower mean hemoglobin concentrations (6.1 g/L, 95% CI ϭ 2.1-10.1) than chloroquine-negative children. Mothers over-reported the frequency of malaria or fever episodes as usually defined in medical studies, and underreported anti-malarial drug use. We conclude that anti-malarials are frequently given for treatment of malaria or malariaassociated illness, rather than prophylactically or for symptoms unrelated to malaria. Questionnaire surveys cannot replace biochemical markers to obtain information on anti-malarial drug use.In developing countries, drugs are often used without prescription. They may be purchased from local shops, markets, or street vendors, obtained by sharing with other users, or used when left over from previous treatments. Home treatment or prophylaxis of illnesses with anti-malarials is more often the rule than the exception in many countries endemic for malaria.

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Malaria-related beliefs and behaviour in southern Ghana: implications for treatment, prevention and control

Cited by 94 publications

References 0 publications

Prevalence of Malaria and Treatment Seeking Behaviours among Pregnant Women in Postconflict Internally Displaced Persons' Camps in Gulu District

Prevalence of Malaria and Treatment Seeking Behaviours among Pregnant Women in Postconflict Internally Displaced Persons' Camps in Gulu District

Environmental factors affecting malaria parasite prevalence in rural Bolifamba, South- West Cameroon

Anti-malarial drug use among preschool children in an area of seasonal malaria transmission in Kenya.

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