Inequalities in the use of insecticide-treated nets by pregnant women in Ghana, 2011 and 2017

Malaria Journal

Research

Abdul-Aziz Seidu¹  Felix Mensah²  Joshua Okyere³  Edward Kwabena Ameyaw⁴  Eugene Budu⁵  Simon Agongo Azure⁶  Bright Opoku Ahinkorah⁷ 

[1] Centre for Gender and Advocacy, Takoradi Technical University, Takoradi, Ghana;College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia;Department of Data Science and Economic Policy, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana;Department of Population and Health, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana;Department of Nursing, College of Health Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana;Institute of Policy Studies and School of Graduate Studies, Lingnan University, Hong Kong, China;L & E Research Consult Ltd., Wa, Upper West Region, Ghana;Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, P. O. Box, 77, Accra, Ghana;Population and Reproductive Health Division, School of Public Health, University of Port Harcourt, Choba, Port Harcourt, Nigeria;Department of Community Health, College of Health, Yamfo, Ghana;School of Public Health, Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia;

关键词: Insecticide-treated net;    Pregnant women;    Ghana;    Multiple indicator cluster survey;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12936-022-04388-z

 received in 2022-06-18, accepted in 2022-11-16,  发布年份 2022

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundPregnant women and children are the most vulnerable group of people usually affected by malaria. The use of insecticide-treated nets is one of the proven interventions for mitigating malaria and its associated deaths in endemic regions, including Ghana. Meanwhile, there is limited evidence on the extent of inequality in insecticide-treated nets use by pregnant women in Ghana. This study assessed the inequalities in insecticide-treated nets use by pregnant women in Ghana.MethodsData from the 2011 and 2017 versions of the Ghana Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys were used. The 2019 updated World Health Organization (WHO) HEAT software (version 3.1) was used for all analyses. Four equity stratifiers were employed to disaggregate insecticide-treated nets use by pregnant women in Ghana. These are economic status, level of education, place of residence, and sub-national region. Four measures were used to compute inequality namely Difference (D), Population Attributable risk (PAR), Population Attributable Fraction (PAF) and Ratio (R).ResultsThe analyses indicated a rise in pregnant women’s insecticide-treated nets use from 32.6% in 2011 to 49.7% in 2017. Except sub-national region, all the factors showed mild inequality in insecticide-treated nets use. For instance, with respect to the economic status ofpregnant women, only a slight inequality was exhibited by one of the simple measures in both 2011 (R = 0.3; 95% UI = 0.2–0.6) and 2017 (R = 0.5; 95% UI = 0.3–0.7). Marginal inequality in insecticide-treated nets use was noted in 2011 (R = 0.6; 95% UI = 0.5–0.9) and 2017 (R = 0.8; 95% UI = 0.6–0.9) for level of education. In the same vein, slight inequality was realized with respect to place of residence in 2011 (R = 0.4; 95% UI = 0.3–0.6) and 2017 (R = 0.6; 95% UI = 0.5–0.7). For sub-national region, both simple (D = 50.5; 95% UI = 30.7–70.4) and complex (PAF = 91.3; 95% UI = 72.3–110.3) measures demonstrated substantial inequality in 2011. In the case of 2017, considerable inequality in insecticide-treated nets use occurred (D = 58; 95% UI = 42.2–73.8, PAF = 51.9; 95% UI = 36.2–67.6).ConclusionIn conclusion, insecticide-treated nets utilization bypregnant Ghanaian women increased between 2011 and 2017. The findings show that Ghana’s Ministry of Health in collaboration with anti-malarial non-governmental organizations must review patterns of insecticide-treated nets distribution and intensify advocacy amongeducated pregnant women, those in urban settings and the rich, to assuage the magnitude of inequality.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2022