Prevalence of Malaria and Utilization of Insecticides Treated Nets (Itns) Among Pregnant Women in Yola North Local Government Area Adamawa State, Nigeria

Abstract

Malaria presents a major threat to public health throughout endemic countries of tropical and sub-Saharan Africa. A cross sectional survey was designed to study the prevalence of malaria and utilization of ITNs among pregnant women in Yola north local government area Adamawa State. Structured questionnaire was used to collect information from 1,254 pregnant women who come for ANC for the first visit. Five (5) miles of blood were drown from each consented participant for parasitological and serological analysis which resulted to a malaria prevalence of 15.6%. Highest prevalence of 7.7% was recorded in age group 15-23 years and lowest in age group ≥38 years. For stage of pregnancy, highest prevalence was recorded in third trimester (7.6%) and lowest in first trimester (3.0%). In terms of knowledge of the causes of malaria, more than 60% had correct knowledge that malaria is caused by infected female Anopheles mosquito bites. Most common malaria signs and symptoms observed were fever (53.4%) and headaches (24.7%). On the malaria prevention measures use, commonest method use was ITNs (42.3%) and followed by environmental sanitation (25.5%). In terms of utilization of ITNs the previous night before the survey, 78.8% pregnant women reported that they had slept under the ITNs last night while 12.2% reported not using an ITNs the night before the survey. Even though, malaria prevalence recorded was relatively low, there is a need for more awareness creation on modes of transmission and early detection of malaria to mitigate the adverse effects of malaria infection among pregnant women.