Mothers’ Use Of Artemisinin Based Combination Therapy (Act) And Insecticide Treated Net (Itn) For Their Under-Five Children In Enugu Metropolis, Nigeria
John Abdulrahman Imaledo
Department of Health Promotion and Education, Faculty of Public Health, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Keywords: Artemisinin-based combination therapy, Insecticide Treated Net, Under-five children, ENUGU METROPOLIS, NIGERIA
Abstract
In Nigeria, anecdote evidence on malaria showed that mortality rate among under-five children is still high after the various interventions from concerned organisations. This study therefore, accesses the use of ACT and ITN by mothers of under-five years children in the treatment and control of malaria in Enugu metropolis. A descriptive study design was adopted and it involved 202 randomly selected residents who agreed to be part of the study. Data were collected using a self-administered structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics.Though 60.0% of the respondents agreed that they have ITN at home yet only 40.6% slept under the net the night before the interview was conducted and more agreed that there has been an episode of malaria in the last 3 months in their household; 58.7% agreed ever used of ART to treat their under-five children for malaria and 58.6% agreed that their under-five slept under ITN a night before the study was conducted. Respondents environment as a breeding place for mosquitoes is still an issue for many and more than half still use measures other than those prescribed for malaria treatment. There is need to increase resources and effort on more educational programme that will address the gap on the use of ACT and ITN as well as to encourage residents to have a clean surrounding in order to eradicate all mosquitoes breeding sites