Attitude of women in western Uganda towards pre-packed, unit-dosed malaria treatment for children.
In the context of a larger study on malaria related knowledge, attitudes, practices and beliefs in western Uganda 813 women aged 15-49 years were shown a sample of a pre-packed, unit-dosed malaria treatment for children, its use was explained and attitudes of the women were investigated. Of all women, 90.5% (86% urban, 92% rural) said they would prefer the pre-packed over the conventional type of treatment and 93.9% of these were willing to pay between 0.17 (rural) and 0.29 (urban) US dollars more for this treatment. Two-thirds (67.8%) thought that they would not have to ask their spouses before making a decision on the kind of treatment and 59.5% said they would rather stock the treatment at home than buy it when a child gets sick. The most mentioned reason for preferring pre-packs was their safety and cleanliness, while ease of application, dosing and compliance were secondary. We conclude that pre-packed, unit-dosed malaria treatment is accepted by the caretakers of children in the area studied and that they readily understand and accept its concept. This indicates a high potential for this approach to improve the home management of malaria fevers and reduce malaria-related morbidity and mortality if adequate coverage can be achieved and if the intervention is embedded into an appropriate programme of behavioural change communication and provider training.
Kilian
A H D
AH
GTZ Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit GmbH, Dept. Health, Education, Social Security, Eschborn, Germany. akilian@imul.com
Tindyebwa
D
D
Gülck
T
T
Byamukama
W
W
Rubaale
T
T
Kabagambe
G
G
Korte
R
R
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000962:Antimalarials / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003657:Decision Making; D004349:Drug Packaging / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008288:Malaria / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology; D012423:Rural Health; D014454:Uganda; D014504:Urban Health
D000962:Antimalarials