A Survey of Home Management of Malaria in Pre-school Children in the Bosomtwe-Atwima-Kwanwoma District, Ashanti Region

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2004-11-24
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Malaria is the most important disease claiming the lives of millions of children in Africa south of the Sahara. The burden of sickness due to malaria remains high in the sub region. Much effort is underway to reduce the burden of malaria to the barest minimum. Previous efforts to control malaria appear to have had little or no impact. Probably, the full impact of malaria control could be much felt with the coverage of many interventions. What appears to be missing in the control strategies is empowerment and inclusion of household level to identify, take early and appropriate action towards management of malaria at home. The study sampled 150 respondents to explore knowledge level, practices, sources of care, cost of treatment and sources of health information for malaria. Respondents identified actual malaria as high temperature (75%) and severe malaria as convulsion (5 8%). There is a high knowledge of mosquito bite (58%) as the main cause of malaria. Personal preventive measures include use of bed nets (32%) and insecticide spray (43%). Approximately 70% of respondents take action in 72 hours contrary to WHOIRBM protocol of 24 hours or less using chloroquine syrup/tablet (5 7%). Only 8% of the total respondents interviewed treat malaria within 24 hours. About 74% of caregivers treat malaria inappropriately. The inappropriateness of malaria treatment is high in children under one and reduces as the age increases. Chemical shops (65%) are the main source of health care while treatment at home constitutes (19%). Caregivers spend 5-10,000 cedis (51%) per treatment and lose 7 working days (52%) whilst treating their children with malaria. Gong-gong beating (49%) and interpersonal communication (49%) constitute the main sources of health information. Keywords: appropriate, burden, caregivers, control, effective, home management, impact, inappropriate, intervention, malaria, protocol.
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A Thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Master of Science in Health Services Planning and Management, 2004
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