Abstract
Background: Malaria is one of the main health problems in Yemen. Health education is essential for the control of diseases such as malaria. School-age children represent 25% of Yemen’s population. Schools children can convey the knowledge and skills that they acquire at school to the community, thus increasing general community awareness about malaria. Aim to determine the impact of school-based malaria education intervention on knowledge, attitude and practice of school children towards malaria prevention and control. Methods: We conducted a community-based trial, intervention and non-intervention comparison (exposed & non-exposed), in four randomly selected districts (rural and urban) of Taiz governorate. This study was conducted in four districts of Taiz governorate. The study population was 2130 pupils of grade 6, 7, and 8 in primary schools, chosen from four randomly selected districts; two of them were rural and the others urban. Four schools and their pupils (1065 pupils) were chosen for the study and assigned as an intervention group and four schools with their pupils (1065) were chosen for the study and assigned as a non-intervention (1065 pupils). Data were collected using questioner in intervention and non-intervention schools (three months apart). The major intervention activities included lectures about malaria, distribution of educational materials. χ2 was used to analyze differences. Results: Health education activities in schools were associated with the increased knowledge of malaria symptoms and methods of prevention. The mean knowledge of malaria symptoms is higher in the intervention schools 4.4 ± 1.9, compared with 2.1 ± 1.4 in the non-intervention group. With statistically significant difference (P < 0.001), also the positive attitude and practice toward malaria was higher to be (48%) in the intervention group; compared with (35%) in the non-intervention group the difference was statistically significant. The knowledge of mode of malaria transmission was higher in the intervention schools to be (86.2%) compared with (59.1%) in the non-intervention group, with statistically significant deference (P value <0.001). The knowledge of fever as a main malaria symptom was higher to be (90.4%) in the intervention schools compared with (63.6%) in the non-intervention schools with statistically significant deference. Conclusions and Recommendation: This study concludes that the health education intervention in primary schools in Taize governorate had a positive impact on the knowledge, attitude and practice of pupils. We recommend to conduct similar methods of the health education activities in schools with suitable modifications to reach all schools level.
Highlights
Malaria is a preventable and treatable infectious disease that kills more than one million people each year [1]
In our study the knowledge of fever as a cardinal symptom of malaria increased to 952 (89.4%) in intervention group compared with 585 (54.9) in non-intervention group, the difference was statistically significant (P value < 0.001), this is in agreement with the study conducted in Thailand, where the knowledge of fever as a symptom of malaria was increased with statistical significant difference to be (56%) [26] in intervention group, it was denoted a substantial increase of the awareness of malaria, (67.6%) of pupils knew how to prevent malaria, while a study conducted in south-western Tanzania obtained that more than (85%) of the respondents were knowledgeable of malaria preventive measures [30]
In order to determine the impact of school-based malaria education intervention on knowledge, attitude and practice of school children toward malaria we conducted a community trial targeted 2130 school pupils in 8 schools in 4 randomly selected districts of Taiz-Governorate-Yemen
Summary
Malaria is a preventable and treatable infectious disease that kills more than one million people each year [1]. Malaria mortality rates have fallen by (47%) globally since 2000, and by (54%) in the WHO (World Health Organization) African Region [3] It is a deadly mosquito-born disease, which took 781,000 lives in 2009 and affects as many as half a billion people in 106 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America [4]. Aim to determine the impact of school-based malaria education intervention on knowledge, attitude and practice of school children towards malaria prevention and control. Results: Health education activities in schools were associated with the increased knowledge of malaria symptoms and methods of prevention. The mean knowledge of malaria symptoms is higher in the intervention schools 4.4 ± 1.9, compared with 2.1 ± 1.4 in the non-intervention group. With statistically significant difference (P < 0.001), the positive attitude and practice toward malaria was higher to be (48%) in the intervention group; compared
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