Assessment of usage and challenges of Insecticide treated bed net in the control of Malaria in Obowo Local Government Area Imo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Insecticide treated bed nets are a form of personal protection that had repeatedly been shown to reduce severe diseases and mortality by about 20% due to malaria in endemic regions. The study was aimed to assess the use of Insecticide Treated bednet and its Challenges among people in Obowo Local Government Area, Imo State. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain data of respondents from the study area. A total of 500 questionnaire were shared and a total of 352 (70.4%) was retrieved. From the data it was revealed that 20.4% people had Primary education, Anopheles mosquito as cause of Malaria (56.2%), High fever as symptoms of Malaria (37.2%), Low birth weight as adverse effect of Malaria (43.7%), Environmental sanitation as preventive measures of Malaria (30.1%). It was recorded that Pregnant women as the most users of ITNs (43.1%), St. Francis Catholic Church recorded the highest number of ITNs users (8.5%). Statistical analysis shows a significant difference between Demographic of Respondents, Respondents knowledge of Malaria, preventive measures, knowledge of who uses ITNs, level of use and non use of ITNs, reasons for use and non use of ITNs. It is recommended that to ensure efficient and effective distribution network for easy access and all members of the health team should be educated more about ITNs and there is need to properly inform, educate and convince the ITNs non users to appreciate the need to own and use ITNs.