Assessing health-seeking behaviour and malaria prevention practices among communities in four districts of the Volta Region of Ghana

• Published in: Malaria Journal
• Main Authors: Verner N. Orish, Raymond Saa-Eru Maalman, Otchere Y. Donkor, Barbara Yordanis Henandez Ceruantes, Eric Osei, Hubert Amu, Prince Kubi Appiah, Kennedy Diema Konlan, Hadiru Mumuni, Eunji Kim, Siwoo Kim, Hajun Jung, Jones Ofori-Amoah, Philip Kofie, Martin Adjuik, Robert Kaba Alhassan, Ernestina Safoa Donkor, Francis Bruno Zottor, Margaret Kweku, Paul Amuna, So Yoo Kim, John Owusu Gyapong, the UHAS-Yonsei Project Team
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2021
• Subjects: Malaria; Insecticide treated nets (ITNs); Malaria prevention; Control; Sub-Saharan Africa; Ghana; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-021-03986-7; https://doaj.org/article/b13d6a6e760843daacfc8b0662bc6021

Abstract Background Malaria is a preventable disease that causes huge morbidity and mortality in malaria-endemic areas, especially among children and pregnant women. The malaria control programme focuses on the prevention of mosquito bites using insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) and mosquito aerosol sprays and coils, as well as prevention of severe disease among those infected through prompt and adequate treatment. The success of the malaria control programme in Ghana is dependent on the malaria prevention practices of people in the community. Therefore, this study evaluated the malaria prevention practices of participants in four districts of the Volta Region of Ghana. Methods This was a cross-sectional study conducted in Ketu South, Nkwanta South, Hohoe Municipality and Ho West districts of the Volta Region of Ghana. Questionnaire were administered to adults who consented to each household visited. Questions were asked on the socio-demographics and malaria prevention practices of the households. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 23 with frequency distribution done for all the variables. Pearson chi-square was used to determine the significant association between socio-demographics and malaria prevention practices, and Multivariate nominal logistic regression analysis was used to model the relationship between dichotomous dependent variables (ITN ownership and usage) and independent variables. Results Out of the 2493 participants; 2234 (89.6%) owned ITN and 1528 (68.4%) used ITN a night before this study, 768 (30.8%) used mosquito aerosol spray and 368 (15%) used mosquito coil. More females significantly owned ITN than males (1293, 92.4%, p ≤ 0.001). Participants from Ketu South had 1.5 times higher odds of owning an ITN compared to Ho West whose odds are not different from Nkwanta South or Hohoe (AOR, 1.56 [95% 1.09–2.22]; p = 0.01). In terms of ITN usage, participants in Nkwanta South were less likely to use ITN compared to the other districts; AOR, 0.434 [95% CI 0.31–0.62, p < 0.001]. Also, of the ...