Abstract:
Background
In sub-Saharan Africa countries including Ghana, the malaria burden remains unacceptably
high and still a serious health challenge. Evaluating a community’s level of knowledge, atti tude, and practice (KAP) regarding malaria is essential to enabling appropriate preventive
and control measures. This study aimed to evaluate knowledge of malaria, attitudes toward
the disease, and adoption of control and prevention practices in some communities across
the Eastern Region of Ghana.
Methods
A cross-sectional based study was carried out in 13 communities across 8 districts from Jan uary -June, 2020. Complete data on socio-demographic characteristics and KAP were
obtained from 316 randomly selected household respondents by a structured pre-tested
questionnaire. Associations between KAP scores and socio-demographic profiles were
tested by Chi-square and binary logistic regression. Data analysis was done with SPSS ver sion 26.0.
Results
Most respondents (85.4%) had good knowledge score about malaria. Preferred choice of
treatment seeking place (50.6%) was the health center/clinic. All respondents indicated they
would seek treatment within 24 hours. Mosquito coils were the preferred choice (58.9%)
against mosquito bites. Majority of households (58.5%) had no bed nets and bed net usage
was poor (10.1%). Nearly half of the respondents (49.4%) had a positive attitude toward
malaria and 40.5% showed good practices. Chi-square analysis showed significant associa tions for gender and attitude scores (p = 0.033), and educational status and practice scores
(p = 0.023). Binary logistic regression analysis showed that 51–60 year-olds were less likely
to have good knowledge (OR = 0.20, p = 0.04) than 15–20 year-olds. Respondents with complete basic schooling were less likely to have good knowledge (OR = 0.33, p = 0.04)
than those with no formal schooling. A positive attitude was less likely in men (OR = 0.61, p
= 0.04). Good malaria prevention practice was lower (OR = 0.30, p = 0.01) in participants
with incomplete basic school education compared to those with no formal schooling.
Conclusion
Overall scores for respondents’ knowledge, though good, was not reflected in attitudes and
levels of practice regarding malaria control and prevention. Behavioral change communica tio
