Determinants of public malaria awareness during the national malaria elimination programme: a cross-sectional study in rural China.

Shangfeng Tang,Da Feng Da Feng,Yue Xian,Ghose Bishwajit,Hui Ming,Zhifei He,Tao Hu,Qian Fu,Ruoxi Wang,Zhanchun Feng,Lu Ji,Hang Fu

doi:10.1186/s12936-016-1427-y

Abstract

BackgroundPublic malaria health promotion is an integral part of the national malaria elimination programme, which was launched by the Chinese government in 2010. However, the public awareness of malaria needs to improve. This study aims to explore the determinants of public awareness of malaria.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted using stratified sampling method from June 2015 to March 2016. Bivariate logistic regression was performed to explore the association between predictors and malaria awareness in the sample population. The homogeneity of the interaction between group assignment and the degree of knowledge related to malaria among the subgroups was calculated by Cochran–Mantel–Haenszel test.ResultsCommunity media (including bulletin boards of village clinics or township hospitals, newspapers, exercise books, shopping bags, aprons, disposable cups, leaflets and banner advertisements) was the most prominent determinant influencing public awareness of malaria. The probability of having high-degree of knowledge about malaria among participants who received malaria-related information from community media were 3.99 times greater than those who did not (odds ratio 3.99, 95 % confidence interval 3.04–5.25, p < 0.001). Moreover, socio-demographic predictors including age, distance to township hospital, endemic county type, history of suffering from malaria, electronic media, self-assessed household income level, educational attainment and the knowledge about malaria were clearly associated with public awareness of malaria.ConclusionsCommunity media played the most important role in public awareness of malaria. However, only a few participants have received malaria knowledge through this media. It suggests that community media was an effective publicity material, which should expand its coverage. Malaria health promotion campaign needs to be aligned with target populations, in particular, people who are under 45 years old and residents (especially in type-3 counties) in remote areas.

Highlights

Public malaria health promotion is an integral part of the national malaria elimination programme, which was launched by the Chinese government in 2010
Malaria health promotion campaign needs to be aligned with target populations, in particular, people who are under 45 years old and residents in remote areas
Malaria knowledge promotion is an integral part of the national malaria elimination campaign

Summary

Introduction

Public malaria health promotion is an integral part of the national malaria elimination programme, which was launched by the Chinese government in 2010. Malaria is a leading cause of disease burden across the world, especially in developing countries China used to be a malaria-epidemic country with a peak of about 2961 cases per 100,000 population in the 1970s [6]. In response to the advocacy of WHO for malaria elimination at the national level, the Chinese government launched a decade-long malaria elimination programme (NMEP) in 2010 targeting at eliminating indigenous malaria cases [9]. The malaria resurgence in Greece is a reminder that the threat of imported cases merits serious attention [15]

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