NWOGU, FRED and Covenant University, Theses (2021) KNOWLEDGE AND RISK PERCEPTIONS ABOUT MALARIA AND USE OF BEDNETS AMONG MARRIED WOMEN IN NIGERIA. Masters thesis, Covenant University.
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Abstract
Malaria is a major public health problem in Nigeria. This study was carried out to assess knowledge and risk perception about malaria and bednets use among married women and children under-5 in Nigeria. Knowledge has been studied extensively in the literature, but risk perception about malaria has not been studied in details. The study categorised knowledge into three: (1) malaria can be cured by medicine, (2) malaria can lead to death, (3) only children can die from malaria. Risk perception was categorised into two: (1) no worry about malaria due to easy treatment, (2) know people sick with malaria. Also, bednets utilisation was categorised into two (1) type of mosquito bed nets slept under last night (2) children under five slept under a mosquito bed net. The study used data from 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS). Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to determine the relationships among, and effects on the variables at p-value<0.05 level of significance. Out of a total of 28,888 women surveyed, the result shows that 58 per cent were aged 30 years and above. Findings from the study show that there was a significant bivariate relationship between socio-demographic factors and married women’s knowledge and risk perception about malaria. The knowledge that malaria can be cured by medicine was highest (94.3 per cent) among women in the North-West (p-value=0.000). About 56.3 per cent of women with the educational attainment of secondary/higher level reported that they have no worries about malaria due to easy treatment (p-value=0.000). Younger women slept more under bednet compared to older women. Hence, there is a significant association between the age of women and the use of bednet (p-value<0.01). Use of bednets was found to be prominent among mothers residing in rural areas (60.3 per cent) for their under-five children when compared with their counterpart in the urban centres (49.7 per cent). The odds ratio for risk perception about malaria depicts that older mothers that know people who are sick with malaria (OR=1.11 [C.I.=1.03, 1.20]) were more likely to put their children in mosquito treated bednets compared to women who don’t know, p-value=0.007. Some of the socio-demographic factors identified in the study influenced knowledge and risk perception about malaria by mothers and children under-5. In this study, risk perception about malaria influenced behaviours about bednet use among the sampled population studied. Risk perception is a crucial factor that should be factored into programme intervention to reduce malaria infection in Nigeria.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Masters) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | malaria, use of bednets, knowledge, risk perception, children aged under-five and married women. |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Law, Arts and Social Sciences > School of Social Sciences |
| Depositing User: | Mrs Hannah Akinwumi |
| Date Deposited: | 01 Apr 2021 11:14 |
| Last Modified: | 01 Apr 2021 11:14 |
| URI: | http://eprints.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/id/eprint/13950 |
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