Prevalence and pattern of misuse of insecticide treated nets among household heads in Apete Community of Oyo State, Nigeria

Insecticide Treated Net (ITN) has been established to be the most cost effective malaria vector control measure if used correctly. However, the use of ITN for other purposes other than its primary purpose is common. The objective of this study is to investigate the prevalence and pattern of misuse of ITNs among household heads. A descriptive cross sectional survey was conducted among 422 household heads selected through multi stage sampling procedure using a validated interviewer administered questionnaire (r= 0.72) and analyzed with SPSS software The result of this study revealed the mean age of respondents’ was 33.38±7.46 and 39.5% was in the 40-49 age brackets. Only 37.4% of the respondents slept inside the nets the night prior to data collection.72.5% of the respondents were found in possession of net not used for sleeping out of which more than half (38.7%) used ITNs as window curtains, 19.3% used as night wrapper, 12.9% as fishing nets, 11.3% as protective device from garden animals, 10.5% used as football goal post and 7.3% used the net to cover market goods. There was a statistically significant relationship between ITN misuse and respondents’ educational attainment (r=.304) and gender (r=.399) at (p<0.05). In conclusion, the study revealed a high prevalence of ITN misuse among the respondents in the community. There is need for community based health promotion intervention to encourage correct usage of ITNs and reduce misuse.