Pregnant Women’s Malaria Knowledge in Ebonyi State, South-East Nigeria

Abstract

The study aimed at investigating knowledge of malaria among pregnant women in Ebonyi state, South-east Nigeria. The cross-sectional survey research design was adopted in the study. Stratified sampling technique was used in selecting 504 pregnant women attending antenatal clinic in 12 hospitals in the state. A face validated, self constructed questionnaire which was subjected to a reliability test using Kuder Richardson Formula 20 (K-R 20) yielded a reliability value of 0.94. Percentages were used for analysis for the purpose of describing the data and chi-square statistic was used for the purpose of testing hypotheses. Results of the study showed that pregnant women had high (64.90%) level of knowledge regarding malaria. However, a good proportion of the pregnant women specifically had misconception about the cause of malaria and its mode of transmission. The pregnant women significantly differed in the knowledge of malaria with those having post secondary education (70.70%) showing better knowledge, followed by those with secondary (66.10%), primary (63.09%) and non-formal (55.70%) education. Location of residence was significantly associated with knowledge of malaria with those living in the urban area demonstrating better knowledge than those in the rural area. The high level of malaria knowledge among the women should be sustained through constant malaria health education interventions for pregnant women in the state. Intervention efforts should focus on rural pregnant women and formulated to accommodate the less educated members of this group as well as address misconceptions about the cause of malaria.

Keywords: Malaria, Knowledge, Pregnant women, Ebonyi state