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.