Who sleeps under bednets in Ghana? A doer/non-doer analysis of malaria prevention behaviours

Abstract

Background: Malaria prevention programmes should be based in part on knowledge of why some individuals use bednets while others do not. This paper identifies factors and characteristics of women that affect bednet use among their children less than five years of age in Ghana.

An exploratory study of community factors relevant for participatory malaria control on Rusinga Island, western Kenya

“…being rained on, eating sugar cane, or lack of hygiene cause malaria) which combined with impoverishment leads to ineffective malaria prevention. Misconceptions relating to malaria found in this study were remarkably similar to those found elsewhere in Africa [70-75] and other parts of the world [26,76,77]. The findings show that there is a high level of what community members term as 'western knowledge' in the Rusinga community which is not completely trusted and, therefore, high priority is still given to traditional beliefs.…”

“…This provides an excellent base for increased training on bednet use and availability of nets to protect the target population and reach the Abuja target [80]. In agreement with other studies [75,81,82] bednet ownership was primarily dependent on the socio-economic status of the household. They are luxury assets which are there in better-off households even if the family might have limited knowledge on malaria.…”

“…CCF-enrolment most strikingly increased the implementation of bush clearing for malaria control. In fact, apart from bednet use, the major activity implemented by community members to prevent malaria in Rusinga, as reported elsewhere [73,75], was the clearing of grass and bushes around the compounds and other general sanitation and hygienic measures (e.g. collection of small containers), none of which have a proven efficacy to prevent malaria in Africa.…”

Reduction in malaria prevalence and increase in malaria awareness in endemic districts of Bangladesh

“…Knowledge on the use of ITN as a preventive measure against mosquito bites was found to be significantly higher among respondents in this follow-up study compared to the baseline survey (Table 3) [15]. This level of knowledge on preventive use of ITN has also been observed in Colombia [19], Nepal [20], Eritrea [9], and Ghana [21] while a lower level of knowledge was observed in India [22], Iran [23] and Turkey [24]. …”

Medical Sociology in Africa

“…In Nigeria, more than 80 % of respondents had never purchased any form of ITN (Onwujekwe et al 2005), while a report submitted that less than 20 % of households own ITNs WHO 2011). Even where there is a high level of knowledge regarding the benefits of ITNs (in Ghana), it does not translate to a high level of usage (De La Cruz 2006;). However, there has been progress in some countries.…”