Abstract

 Malaria is an endemic disease in Nigeria that is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in children, especially those under the age of five years old. The home management of malaria has been shown to reduce the rate of morbidity and mortality linked to malaria. The objectives of this study were therefore to determine the knowledge on cause, signs and symptoms of malaria, health seeking behaviour of respondents, preventive measures and Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) of home management of malaria among mothers in Babcock University for their children. This research was done between April and June, 2018 in Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State. A descriptive study with a cross sectional study design was used. The study population was 274 mothers. A structured questionnaire was used as the instrument for this study. This study revealed that 96.7% of the respondents knew about malaria as a disease. 72.6% of them attributed it to the vector, mosquito, while 4.7% attributed it to the malaria parasite, Plasmodium. The commonest recognisable clinical symptom of malaria was headache (75.5%) of the study population. None of the respondents took their children to the native doctor or to Church when symptoms of malaria arose. Rather, they took them to the hospital (80.3%) or to the Pharmacy (11.3%). Regarding preventive measures, 76.6% of them made use of insecticides, which was the commonest preventive measure. In the modality of treatment, it is shown in this study that 69.0% of the mothers knew about Artemisinin Combination Therapy (ACT), which is the recommended treatment drug for malaria treatment by the World Health Organization (WHO). It was also the commonest treatment modality used (68.6%). The commonest ACT combination used was Coartem (Artemether/Lumefantrine) with 59.5% of the respondents patronizing it. The study also showed that mothers in Babcock University are well aware of the dangers of poor compliance (86.5%) and thus ensure that their children completed the drug dose. The mothers in Babcock University have good knowledge, attitude and awareness of home management practices of malaria for their children. These practices are effective in reducing malaria incidence, owing to the fact that majority of them are well educated, as proven by statistical analysis.