Level of Knowledge, Attitude and Treatment Practices for the Malaria among the Community Members of Four Selected Villages of Shinkafi Local Government Area of Zamfara State Nigeria

Abstract

Aim: Malaria disease causes severe lost of lives in many parts of Nigeria due poor knowledge, attitude and treatment practices among the people. The aim of the present study is to investigate the level of knowledge, attitude and treatment practices for the malaria among the people in four selected villages of Shinkafi local government area of Zamfara State. Study Design: This study was designed to target 400 community members, 100 individuals each from Badarawa, Jangeru, Kware and Kurya Villages of Shinkafi. Place and Duration of Study: Badarawa, kware, Jengeru, and Kurya communities of Shinkafi local government area of Zamfara State, between August 2017 and March 2018. Methodology: Respondents were selected randomly and individual based questionnaire was administered to each participant, each participant was asked to fill the questionnaire based on his knowledge, the data obtained was analyzed using descriptive statistics and presented as percentage in tables. Results: Results of the present study indicated that, majority of the participants (73.25%) had the knowledge of malaria, most of the people in the study areas (93.75%) did not have any information on causes of malaria, only 49..50% are receiving help from the government and only 45.5% of the respondents used repellants for control of mosquito vector while 70.25% of the respondents educate their children on malaria. Hence, attitudes toward prevention and control of the malaria was poor due to inadequate facilities for the treatment and control of malaria in the study area as indicated from liked questions of the questionnaire. Conclusion: In conclusion, although majority of the people were found to have knowledge of malaria in the study areas, it was observed that, most of the members in the study areas were lacking good practice toward prevention and control of malaria due to inadequate facilities and poor knowledge for the prevention and control.