Abstract
BackgroundTo reduce the malaria burden in Nigeria, the National Malaria Strategic Plan (NMSP) 2014‒2020 calls for the scale-up of prevention and treatment interventions, including social and behaviour change (SBC). SBC interventions can increase awareness and improve the demand for and uptake of malaria interventions. However, there is limited evidence supporting the implementation of SBC interventions to improve key malaria behaviours, such as insecticide-treated bed net (ITN) use, among children in Nigeria.MethodsUsing data from 2015 Nigeria Malaria Indicator Survey, this study used multiple logistic regression to assess the relationship between caregiver exposure to malaria messages and ITN use among children under five.ResultsCaregiver exposure to ITN-related messages was significantly associated with ITN use among children under five (odds ratio [OR] = 1.63, p < 0.001).ConclusionsThe results suggest that caregiver exposure to topic-specific SBC messages improves the use of ITNs among children. Given these results, Nigeria should strive to scale up SBC interventions to help increase ITN use among children in line with the objectives of the NMSP. Further evidence is needed to determine which SBC interventions are the most effective and scalable in Nigeria.
Highlights
To reduce the malaria burden in Nigeria, the National Malaria Strategic Plan (NMSP) 2014‒2020 calls for the scale-up of prevention and treatment interventions, including social and behaviour change (SBC)
Further details on insecticide-treated bed net (ITN) use among children under five by background characteristics Insecticide-treated net use among children under five did not vary by child sex, child age, or household ownership of a radio, but it did vary by a number of characteristics
ITN use was higher among children who lived in households with an adequate number of ITNs (69.1%, p < 0.0001), among children whose caregivers were exposed to an ITN-related message (55.9%, p = 0.0004), among children from rural areas (62.0%, p = 0.0005), among children from the North Central (60.7%), North East (61.0%) and North West (70.5%) regions (p < 0.0001), and among children living in households that did not own a television (66.3%, p < 0.0001) (Table 1)
Summary
To reduce the malaria burden in Nigeria, the National Malaria Strategic Plan (NMSP) 2014‒2020 calls for the scale-up of prevention and treatment interventions, including social and behaviour change (SBC). There is limited evidence supporting the implementation of SBC interventions to improve key malaria behaviours, such as insecticide-treated bed net (ITN) use, among children in Nigeria. To address the malaria burden, Nigeria is expanding key coverage of key malaria interventions is improving, large gaps remain, especially among children under five, and further effort is needed to reach the country’s 2020 targets [4]. Malaria Indicator Survey (NMIS), approximately twothirds of households in Nigeria own at least one insecticide-treated net (ITN), but only 44% of children under five used an ITN the night before the survey (2015 NMSP target: 50%) [4]. More than 90% of ITNs are obtained free-of-charge through campaigns or through regular distribution during antenatal care or child immunization visits or at government health facilities in Nigeria [4]
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