Malaria is a major cause of morbidity and mortality
among expectant mothers and children (under five) in
endemic areas of the world. Adequate knowledge and
practice of malaria prevention are significant in curbing
this burden. This study examined the knowledge and
practice of malaria prevention among expectant
mothers in selected Primary Health Centers in Mushin
Local Government Area of Lagos State. A crosssectional
descriptive design was used in this study.
Simple random sampling technique was used for the
selection of 212 respondents. A structured pretested
questionnaire was used to collect data. The reliability
values of the instruments using Cronbach alpha were
0.84 and 0.82 for knowledge and practice of malaria
prevention respectively. Data were analysed using SPSS
version 26, presented in descriptive statistics of
frequency counts, percentage tables, and mean scores.
Inferential statistics of Chi-square was used to test the
three hypotheses formulated at 0.05 level of significance.
This study showed that majority of respondents are
within the ages of 30 – 34years (30.7%), Yoruba
(58.8%), married (86.6%) and had 3 and above children
alive (29.7%). Further findings showed that majority
had tertiary education as the highest level of formal
education (47.5%) with 4 to 6 months as current age of
gestation (40.1%). This study showed that the
respondents knowledge level of malaria is more than
average (61.6%), knowledge level on malaria
prevention is average (53.8%) and respondents practice
level of malaria prevention was high (70.3%).The result
showed that there is a relationship between the level of
knowledge of malaria prevention and practices among
expectant mothers p<0.05, there is no significant
relationship between knowledge of malaria prevention
and parity among expectant mothers in selected PHCs in
Mushin Local Government Area of Lagos State with pvalue
> 0.05 and lastly, there is no significant
relationship between knowledge of malaria prevention
and educational level among respondents with a p-value> 0.05. In conclusion, majority of the respondents had
moderate knowledge of malaria, a little below average
of malaria prevention and good practice. It is therefore
recommended that expectant mothers should be
educated on malaria prevention and the benefits of
adhering to malaria preventive practices.
- FAROTIMI | ABOSEDE | ADEKUNBI | afarotimi@unilag.edu.ng | 08025952450, OSHINYEMI | TEMITOPE | EBUNOLUWA | tososanya@unilag.edu.ng | 08127773528, TASIE | VERA | ONYINYECHI | @live.unilag.edu.ng | 08092774399
- Expectant mothers, Knowledge, Malaria prevention, Practice.
- KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE OF MALARIA PREVENTION AMONG EXPECTANT MOTHERS
