MISUSE OF INSECTICIDE TREATED NET AMONG HOUSEHOLD HEADS IN APETE COMMUNITY OF IDO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, IBADAN, OYO STATE.

Abstract

Malaria is a major public health concern and remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in sub- Saharan Africa. The use of insecticide treated net (ITN) has been shown to be the most cost effective strategy in preventing malaria. However, despite the free bed net initiatives, low uptake and use for other purposes than malaria prevention has been reported. However, not much has been done on investigating the misuse of ITN among household heads’. This study therefore examined the misuse of ITN among household heads in Apete Community of Ido Local Government Area, Oyo State, Nigeria. The study adopted a cross sectional survey among 400 selected household heads through multi-stage sampling. A pretested interviewer- administered questionnaire was used to obtain information on respondents’ socio demographic characteristics, knowledge level on ITN, ownership, utilization and perception on barriers to ITN use and misuse. The tool reliability using Cronbach's Alpha yielded 0.72. Descriptive statistics and chi-square test were used to analyze the data at 0.05 level of significance and all statistical association was computed to explain the outcome variable of this study. The mean age of the household heads was 33.38 + 7.46 years, and majority were female (69%). Majority belong to the middle class of wealth index (66.8%). Only 32.8% knew sleeping under ITN was the most cost effective way of preventing malaria, while 79.8% knew the correct process of hanging the net. ITN ownership at household level was high (85.5%), but personal level ownership of at least one net is low (43.9%). Respondents’ utilization was relatively low as only 32% slept under the net the night prior to data collection. Above three- fifths (72.5%) misused the nets in various ways other than for sleeping. Slightly above one third of the respondents misused the ITN as window curtains (32.7%), while one – sixth used as night wrapper (15.3%). Others were used for protection of gardens (7.3%), fishing net (8.9%), cover for market goods (4.8%) and football post (6.5%). ITN misuse was most prevalent among the highly educated respondents (66.5%). Significant association was found between household head’s gender and insecticide treated net misuse (X2 = 14.980; P = 0.02) with preponderance among females. This study confirmed misuse of ITN among household heads in the study area. There is need to embark on an aggressive enlightenment cum community outreach to re-orientate the community members on the importance of proper use of ITN including the use of Behavioural Change Communication strategy in influencing community local associations and faith based organizations.