Knowledge and the preventive strategies of Malaria among Migrant Farmers in Ado-Ekiti Local Government Area of Ekiti State, Nigeria

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the knowledge and the preventive strategies of malaria among migrant farmers in Ado-Ekiti Local Government Area of Ekiti State, Nigeria. The study was a descriptive design of the survey type. The structured questionnaire used for this study was adapted from Matta, Khokhar and Sachdev (2004). The instrument with detailed information on knowledge of malaria disease, the preventive strategies and practice of the preventing strategies was used to elicit information from the participants. Five (5) farm settlements were randomly selected from the existing twenty five (25) locations in Ado Ekiti Local Government Area and a total of sixty respondents were randomly selected from each farm settlement giving a total of 300 migrant farmers that were used for the study. The research instrument was administered to the participants by the researchers and trained research assistants who also helped in the interpretation of the items in the instrument in the local languages for those who did not understand English Language. Three hundred (300) questionnaires were administered and same were retrieved, collated and analyzed giving a 100% returned rate. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. The descriptive analyses included frequency counts while t test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used to test hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The study revealed that the participants had adequate knowledge of malaria related issues and the preventive strategies. The knowledge of preventive strategies was significantly related with the practices of the preventive strategies among the migrant farmers. It was thus recommended that health education and sensitization programmes should be intensified to create more awareness on malaria prevention so that the populace will improve on their practices of malaria preventive strategies.