Malaria Fever Self-Treatment Behaviour among Women in Karu Sub-Urban District of Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Despite enormous efforts of governments and scholars, malaria continues to be a public health problem especially among vulnerable populations such as children and women who oftentimes serve as caregivers not only to children but also to spouses and others. The aim of this study is to assess current self-treatment behavior of women of reproductive age in Karu Suburban District of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: This descriptive study employed an English language self-administered questionnaire to collect data from a target population of 399 suburban women residing or working in Karu. The Sub-Urban District of Karu is dominated mainly by public and private employees, representing the pluralistic and multi-ethnicity nature of Nigeria. All data were computed and coded using Microsoft Office Excel sheets and were transferred to the Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) version 21.0 for detailed analysis. Statistical tools such as descriptive statistics, Chi-square, and inferential statistics were used to analyze the variables. Result: There was a total of 399 women who completed the questionnaires. The overall mean age of the women is 34.34 with 58.9% having university/masters’ degree and 4.8% having no education. 78.6% of the respondents are married while 35.5% are civil servants, private employees 23.2%, and 14.5% unemployed housewives. 29.7% are not aware of other types of fever while a large percentage of 79.8% do not conduct laboratory test for malaria before the commencement of self-treatment. Respondents who are not aware of the different classes of antimalarial drugs amount to 55.5% while the leading sources of obtaining antimalarial drugs are patent medicine shop (67.5%), chemist shop (65%) and Pharmacy shop (37.3%). Conclusion: This study has identified that despite study population’s high knowledge of malaria fever, the attitude towards malaria diagnosis is poor and require more promotion while adequate information about classes of antimalarial drugs/dosage that are obtained mostly from patent medicine shops is needed. The ongoing efforts to reorganize the chaotic drug distribution system in Nigeria must be taken seriously if the war against malaria is to be won.

Keywords: Behaviour, Fever, Nigeria, Malaria, Self-treatment, Women