Utilisation of Insecticide-treated Net and its Associating Factors in the Prevention of Malaria Among Pregnant Women Attending a Nigerian Antenatal Clinic

Abstract

Background: Malaria in pregnancy is a significant threat to the mother and the unborn child. The World Health Organisation recommends insecticide-treated nets as a long-lasting solution to malaria. Evidence has shown its effectiveness if used. To assess the utilization of insecticide-treated nets in the prevention of malaria among pregnant women attending the antenatal clinic at Adeoyo Maternity Teaching Hospital. Methods: This is a quantitative study using a descriptive research design and a sample size of 333 statistically estimated. Participants are pregnant women attending antenatal clinics selected through a simple random sampling technique. A self-designed structured questionnaire of 37 items initially piloted to ensure reliability was used to elicit responses from the participants. Result: 95.8% of the participants demonstrated knowledge and evidence of ownership of insecticide-treated net. 98.3% also showed a high level of knowledge about malaria and the possible damage it causes during pregnancy. Most of them identified healthcare workers as the major source of this knowledge. Despite this level of knowledge and ownership of insecticide-treated nets, 33% of the participants use them every day. Some of the factors identified by the participants as responsible for this low utilization include discomfort when sleeping under ITN (56%), unavailability of ITN (55%), and heat generated by ITN (70%). Conclusion: The findings from this study suggest a low utilization of insecticide-treated nets among pregnant women despite the effort of healthcare workers in empowering them with knowledge and the net. Most of the factors identified were related to the comfort of using the net. It is therefore recommended that makers of the insecticide-treated net should improve their product by considering the factors that discourage its use. Organisations should provide insecticide-treated nets to pregnant women who may not have had it.