| Summary: | D Chidiebere Osuorah,1,2 Chijioke Elias Ezeudu,2 Stanley Kenechi Onah,2 Obinna Tochukwu Anyabolu31Child Survival Unit, Medical Research Council UK, The Gambia Unit, Banjul, The Gambia; 2Department of Pediatrics, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi, Anambra, Nigeria; 3School of Health and Social Care, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UKBackground: Malaria remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa, with children under 5 years accounting for 86% of all malaria deaths. For effective control of malaria, WHO recommends rapid diagnosis and effective treatment, insecticide-treated bed nets, and indoor residual spraying. The use of insecticide-treated bed nets has been shown to be the most cost-effective strategy in preventing this infection. However, despite the Roll Back Malaria subsidized and free bed net distribution initiatives in some Africa countries, bed net uptake and usage still remains low in many households.Aim: This study aimed to investigate household characteristics and child factors that determine bed net ownership and use amongst under-5 children and the effect of its usage on malaria parasitemia in under-5 children in Nigeria.Methods: Data from a nationally representative sample of 5895 households was obtained from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory in the 2010 Nigeria demographic and health survey, with a minimum of 67 households enrolled per state. Appropriate statistical tools were used to identify the characteristics of households that owned a bed net and to examine the association between the households and child-level factors that predict the use of bed net and malaria prevalence among under-5 children within these households.Results: The rate of households bed net ownership in Nigeria is about 45.5%. About 48.5% of under-5 children in 33.9% of households surveyed, use a bed net during sleep. There was a strong correlation between households ownership and child sleeping under a bed net (r = 0.706, P < 0.001). Acquisition of these ...
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