Abstract
Background Malaria is no doubt a burden on both the financial and human resources of Ghana. In this study, we examined the awareness of malaria prevention practices among indigenes of Godokpe, a rural community in the Ho Municipality of Ghana. Methods This descriptive cross-sectional survey that used a self-developed questionnaire recruited 246 residents of Godokpe who were aged 18 years and above using a systematic sampling technique. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze data into descriptive and analytical statistics. The descriptive statistics comprised frequency, percentage, and means. Also, analytical statistics of cross tabulation was conducted considering a p<0.05 at a 95% Confidence Interval to be statistically significant. Findings About 54% and 20% of the respondents, respectively, had satisfactory and good levels of knowledge on malaria prevention. The methods used in malaria prevention included mosquito coils (72%), cleaning and prevention of water stagnation (62%), mosquito spray (54%), and mosquito net (59%). Also, malaria treatment methods mostly used were quinine (70%) and chloroquine (50.4%). The major sources of information on malaria were television (74%), health professionals (66%), schools (62%), family/friends (60%), and the Internet (51%). Conclusion School children showed good understanding of malaria and its vectors. There is, therefore, the need to increase the empowerment of teachers with appropriate health information including malaria so that they can continue to deliver malaria information to the pupils.
Highlights
Malaria continues to be a serious public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa [1] and affects the health and wealth of nations and individuals alike [2]
About 70% of the respondents indicated that quinine was used for malaria treatment, while 50% identified chloroquine as the medicine used to treat malaria
Common symptoms of malaria were revealed by most residents as shivering, fever, vomiting, headache, and body pains
Summary
Malaria continues to be a serious public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa [1] and affects the health and wealth of nations and individuals alike [2]. Children aged less than five years and pregnant women are the people most vulnerable to dying of malaria or suffering serious consequences of the disease, especially in regions where transmission is intense [3, 4]. In children less than 5 years, 41% of deaths are due to malaria [5]. If malaria is appropriately prevented, the individual, family, and the state will save lots of resources that will improve the standards of living of the general population [5]. We examined the awareness of malaria prevention practices among indigenes of Godokpe, a rural community in the Ho Municipality of Ghana. This descriptive cross-sectional survey that used a self-developed questionnaire recruited 246 residents of Godokpe who were aged 18 years and above using a systematic sampling technique. There is, the need to increase the empowerment of teachers with appropriate health information including malaria so that they can continue to deliver malaria information to the pupils
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