ASSESSMENT OF METHODS OF PREVENTION OF MALARIA AMONG UNDER- FIVE CAREGIVERS IN MILGOMA, A RURAL SETTING IN KADUNA STATE NORTH-CENTRAL NIGERIA

ABSTRACT Background Nigeria government in her strategy to fight the scourge of malaria in the country adopted the Roll Back Malaria initiative in 1998. Since inception, the country has been working towards the vision of having a malaria free nation. Despite the interventions, Nigeria still carries the greatest malaria burden among countries in the world. This study assessed the methods of prevention of malaria amongst the under-five care givers in Milgoma, a rural setting in Kaduna state, north-central, Nigeria. Methods A cross sectional descriptive study was conducted amongst 148 under-five care-givers between 6th and 20th April, 2014 using a two stage systematic random sampling technique. Structured interviewer administered questionnaire were used for data collection. Analysis of the data collected was done with statistical package for social sciences version 20.0. Results The knowledge of methods of transmission and the prevalence of the disease among the respondents was high (85.9% and 83.8% respectively). Amongst those who had experienced malaria 46.2% sought for treatment in hospitals within the first 24-48 hours while the rest sought for treatment in chemist (16.1%) or traditional medicine (13.7%) and 2.4% did not sought for any treatment. Ninety-nine (66.9%) uses insecticide treated nets while 60.8% uses pyremethamine and sulfodaxine in pregnancy. Conclusions For Nigeria to achieve the goal as a malaria free nation; there is need to intensify the provision of tailored malaria prevention information, education and communication to the care givers of under five children to maximize utilization of the mainstream intervention programmes provided by the government.