Sources of Malaria Information among Pregnant Women in Ebonyi State and Implications for Malaria Health Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine sources of malaria information among pregnant women in Ebonyi state and implications for malaria education. The cross sectional research design was adopted and stratified sampling technique was used to select a total of five hundred and four (504) pregnant women from 12 hospitals in the state. A self structured and validated questionnaire was used for data collection. Pearson product moment was used to test the reliability of the instrument (r=0.83). While frequency counts and percentages were used to analyze data, chi-square was used to test the proposed hypothesis at .05 level of Significance. Results from the study showed that radio was indicated as the highest source of malaria information followed by television and antenatal clinics. Significant difference was observed in the sources of malaria information among urban and rural pregnant women. However, no significant difference was seen among women of different educational levels as regards sources of malaria information. Based on these findings it was recommended among others that health workers should make effective use of the media in the dissemination of health   information. Hence malaria education programme via all aspects of the media (radio, television, and print) should   be encouraged.