Malaria prevention knowledge, attitudes, and practices in Zambezia Province, Mozambique

Malaria Journal

Nuria Negrao¹  Maria do Rosário O. Martins²  Zulmira Hartz²  Rose Zulliger³  Jorge A. H. Arroz⁴  Liliana de Sousa Pinto⁴  Amadeu Cossa⁵  Victor Muchanga⁵ 

[1] Cactus Communications, A/603, Satellite Gazebo, Guru Hargovindji Marg, Andheri East, 400093, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India;Global Health and Tropical Medicine, GHTM, Instituto de Higiene E Medicina Tropical, IHMT, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, UNL, Rua da Junqueira 100, 1349-008, Lisboa, Portugal;Independent Consultant, Maputo, Mozambique;Mozambique Medical Coucil, Maputo, Mozambique;Plataforma Inter-Religiosa de Comunicação para Saúde–PIRCOM, Maputo, Mozambique;

关键词: Knowledge;    Attitude;    Practices;    Mozambique;    Malaria;    Social and behaviour change;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12936-021-03825-9

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundIn Mozambique, socio-economic and cultural factors influence the wide adoption of disease preventive measures that are relevant for malaria control strategies to promote early recognition of disease, prompt seeking of medical care, sleeping under insecticide-treated nets (ITNs), and taking intermittent preventive treatment for pregnant women. However, there is a critical information gap regarding previous and ongoing malaria social and behavioural change (SBC) interventions. The aim of this study is to assess the knowledge, attitudes, practices of beneficiaries of SBC interventions.MethodsA descriptive cross-sectional survey was undertaken in 2018 in two rural districts of Zambezia Province, Mozambique. A structured questionnaire was administered to 773 randomly selected households. Respondents were the adult heads of the households. Descriptive statistics were done.ResultsThe main results show that 96.4% of respondents recalled hearing about malaria in the previous 6 months, 90.0% had knowledge of malaria prevention, and 70.0% of preventive measures. Of the 97.7% respondents that had received ITNs through a mass ITN distribution campaign, 81.7% had slept under an ITN the night before the survey. In terms of source of health information, 70.5% mentioned the role of community volunteers in dissemination of malaria prevention messages, 76.1% of respondents considered worship places (churches and mosques) to be the main places where they heard key malaria prevention messages, and 79.1% asserted that community dialogue sessions helped them better understand how to prevent malaria.ConclusionsResults show that volunteers/activists/teachers played an important role in dissemination of key malaria prevention messages, which brought the following successes: community actors are recognized and people have knowledge of malaria transmission, signs and symptoms, preventive measures, and where to get treatment. There is, however, room for improvement on SBC messaging regarding some malaria symptoms (anaemia and convulsions) and operational research is needed to ascertain the drivers of malaria prevalence and inform the SBC approach.

【 授权许可】

CC BY