Perception of causes of malaria and treatment-seeking behaviour of nursing mothers in a rural community.
OBJECTIVE
Maternal health care workers' recognition of malaria, its transmission and treatment of children's fever at community level.


METHODS
Randomised sampling of households with children of 0-5 years.


METHODS
Rural community in a forest zone.


METHODS
Fifty-five households at Ijegemo village, Ogun state, Nigeria were sampled and questionnaires administered to 200 mothers/care workers of children within the age group 0-5 years. Blood smears were obtained from finger pricks and level of parasitemia with malaria parasites determined for each child.


METHODS
Interactions with the women during the survey empowered them with accurate knowledge of malaria recognition, transmission and management of children's fever at the community level.


RESULTS
Forty per cent of the respondents did not know the exact cause of malaria, 20% attributed the cause to sunlight, 16.5% to mosquitoes, 12.5% to poor hygiene, 4% to palm oil intake, 4% to blood shortage and 6% to a hot body. Of respondents 85.5% identified stagnant water as breeding site of mosquitoes but could not correlate it with the occurrence of malaria fever. Herbal concoction was the first treatment action. Some of these herbs are listed in the text. Plasmodium falciparum alone was identified in all blood smears. Children at two to three years of age were recorded with the highest percentage (67.5%) of parasite-positive cases with a mean value of 1237.04 +/- 2113.19.


CONCLUSIONS
This study highlights a critical need for targeting health messages towards poorly educated women in order to empower them with the knowledge and resources to recognise and manage their children's health problems.
Ibidapo
Comfort A
CA
Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Lagos State University, Apapa, Nigeria. jokeibidapo@yahoo.com
D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001942:Breast Feeding; D002675:Child, Preschool; D009033:Culicidae; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006701:Home Nursing / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007299:Insect Bites and Stings; D007303:Insect Vectors; D008288:Malaria / Q000451:nursing / Q000469:parasitology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D009035:Mothers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009549:Nigeria; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors