Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices on Malaria in Farming Communities of Lau Local Government Area of Taraba State Nigeria

Abstract

Malaria poses a major public health problem that is endemic in sub-Saharan Africa, especially in impoverished and poor sanitary settings. Malaria, a vector-borne disease, transmitted by the Anopheles mosquito is an endemic disease. Farmers are often known to live in remote locations while a majority of them reside in farm settlements where there are few or absence of social amenities. The low literacy and poor income from their produce have continually subjected them to poor living conditions. Thick and thin blood smears were prepared using standard parasitological procedures, other information about the farmers were obtained using a structured questionnaire. The study was aimed to assess knowledge, attitudes and practices about malaria and intestinal parasites in farming communities of Lau Local Government. A total of 258 farmers participated in the study. One hundred and forty-four (55.8%) were males while 114 (44.2%) were females. From the results, 116 (45.0%) of the participants were positive for Plasmodium falciparum. Among those who were positive for malaria, 71 (61.2%) were males, while 45 (38.8%) were females. The 10–25-year-old age group had the highest prevalence of malaria with 46 (63.9%) cases. Also, there is no significant association found between the prevalence of malaria parasites and age (p=0.318). One hundred and seventy (65.9%) farmers heard about malaria. When seeking treatment, 154 (59.7%) of the respondents prefer going to the hospital or clinic. Misconceptions about the malaria parasite still exist. There is still a need for a proper awareness program among farmers, which would help to lessen the burden of these parasitic infections.