Effectiveness of Health Education in Community-based Malaria Prevention and Control Interventions in sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Objective: This review assessed the effectiveness of health education in community-based malaria prevention and control interventions in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

Methods: We systematically reviewed published and unpublished literature, searching 7 databases and 3 websites namely Malaria Journal, World Health Organization and Centre for Disease Control and Prevention to find relevant studies. Study designs included were randomized controlled trials, non-randomized trials, quasi experiments, before and after studies, and surveys. A narrative synthesis was performed on the extracted data.

Results: Seventeen studies were included in the review. Nine studies covered health education interventions on Insecticide Treated bet Nets (ITNs), three utilised health education to promote Intermittent Presumptive Treatment in pregnancy (IPTp), four reported on the effect of health education in home-based management of malaria whilst one study focused on environmental management in malaria control. Factors found to affect health education in malaria control and prevention interventions included educational level of participants, the nature of health messages and the level of community involvement.

Conclusion: The results of the review suggest that health education interventions are effective and remain a valuable tool in community-based malaria prevention and control interventions in SSA. This review found moderate evidence that health education interventions influence the uptake of community-based malaria prevention and control interventions, enhance knowledge about malaria and generally improve malaria prevalence and mortality in children under five and pregnant women.

Key words Malaria, systematic review, health education, sub-Saharan Africa