Knowledge and acceptability of the new Malaria treatment Policy

Abstract

Title: Knowledge and acceptability of the new malaria treatment policy. Introduction: The study was done to find out the communities knowledge and acceptability of the new malaria treatment policy. The World Health Organization recommends among other things that acceptability of the community should be determined before implementing a new malaria treatment policy.Statement of the Problem & significance of study: Although the new treatment policy was introduced, it was not clear if people knew about it. There had been no educational campaign and study of acceptability prior to the implementation of this new measure. Objectives of the Study: To find out people's knowledge on the new malaria treatment policy, to determine their acceptability of the new treatment policy and to find out if knowledge and acceptability of the policy was related to educational attainment sex, age, religion and the area of residence (i.e. urban and rural).Research Design: This was a cross-sectional study, using a semi-structured questionnaire. It was done in Central Province, using Kabwe as the urban area and Chibombo as the rural area. The sample size was 384,with 192 respondents each for urban and rural. The sample was drawn using systematic random sampling technique. The data was analysed using EPI6 software, with chi-square to determine association between socio-demographic factors on one hand and knowledge and acceptability on the other. Results and conclusions: Knowledge of the new treatment policy was 76.4%. Acceptability of drugs in the new malaria treatment policy were also found to be high, 93% for Coartem® and 88%o for Sulphadoxine-Pyrimethamine (Fansidar®). A statistically significant relationship was found between education, sex and area of residence with knowledge. Respondents with secondary or tertiary education, females and those living in urban areas had higher knowledge. None of the sociodemographic factors was associated with acceptability.