Household caregivers' knowledge and control of helminthiasis in preschool children in a rural community of Enugu state, Nigeria.

Abstract

Helminthiasis causes iron deficiency anemia, pica, growth, and mental retardation in children. Deworming exercises are being included as part of various interventional programs to reduce the disease burden. However, the success or failure of such activities in terms of household caregivers' knowledge and practice of deworming is not usually adequately evaluated, thus this study. This was a cross-sectional descriptive study carried out in the rural community of Enugu State, Nigeria. Pretested semi-structured interviewer-administered questionnaire was used. Inferential statistics, χ2 test, and t-test were also used in the analysis for categorical and continuous variables, respectively. A total of 294 preschool children and 250 caregivers were studied. Among the caregivers, 212 (71.9%) had good knowledgeand 149 (50.5%) had good practice of deworming. There was a statistically significant association between the age of respondents and knowledge score (χ2 = 6.471, p = 0.039) and between the educational level of respondents and practice score (χ2 = 30.632, p < 0.001). Most respondents in the rural community had a good knowledge of worm infestation and only half had good practice of deworming. Also, there was a significant difference between the age of respondents and knowledge of helminthiasis and between the educational level of respondents and deworming activities of respondents.