Awareness and Utilisation of Artemisinin-Based Combination Therapies Among Mothers of Under-Five Children in a Local Government Area in Nigeria

Abstract

One of the challenges of malaria control is inappropriate treatment and development of resistance by its causal agent (plasmodium species). Arteminsinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) was adopted as first-line treatment for malaria to improve quality of the treatment. This study aimed at assessing the mothers’ of under-five children’s awareness and utilisation of ACTs in Egbedore LGA osun state Nigeria. Method: Descriptive cross-sectional design was used. Eight hundred and thirty seven mothers of under-five children were selected through stratified random sampling technique. Results: The findings revealed that malaria should be treated promptly because it makes children not to go to school regularly (31.9%), it causes poverty (20.4%) and the main reason why more than six out of 10 people go to hospital for treatment (20.3%). However, majority (94.0%) thought witch crafting was the reason for prompt treatment. Drugs identified by the mothers for treatment of malaria include Asprin (85.7%), Chloroquine/ Nivaquine tablet /syrup (71.8%), herbal preparation (agbo) (71.8%), Artesunate-Amodiaquine tablet (7.2%) and Coartem (Artermether/ Lumefantrine) (4.4%). Only few of the respondents mentioned Artesunate plus amodiaquin 3.2% and Coartem 1.7% as new recommended ACT for treatment of malaria. Utilisation of this ACTs was very low among the respondents as only 3.3% and 2.4% claimed to have treated their children with Coartem and Artesunate plus amodiaquin respectively. The major sources of the respondents’ medicines are Pharmacy/chemist/patent medicine store (49.0%) and public health facilities (41.4%). Conclusion: Findings of this study showed that level of awareness and utilisation of recommended ACTs for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria at home was poor in Egbedore LGA, effort must be intensified to promote utilisation of the new recommended ACTs with a view to reducing malaria morbidity and mortality.