Home Management Practices among Caregivers on Malaria Treatment in Primary Healthcare Centre Amansea, Anambra State, Nigeria

Malaria is a major cause of fever in children. When a child has fever, parents or caregivers commonly treat them as if they were affected by malaria, with available medicines at home, with or without proper information or guideline. This study was carried out to explore the effectiveness of the various home management practices on malaria treatment among caregivers in Primary Health Care Center Amansea, Awka North L.G.A, Anambra State between May and August 2021. Mothers and caregivers (N=200) visiting the facility and their children (N=200) were involved. Blood specimens were collected through venipuncture and analyzed by microscopy while data on management practices were collected using pretested, structured questionnaires. Data were analyzed with SPSS version 25.0. Mothers and caregivers had good knowledge of the correct cause (70.0%), symptoms (63.0%) and preventive measures (53.5%) of malaria. Sources of medical treatment ranged from doctors (43.0%) to herbalist (13.5%) and 80% of them seek medical treatment within 24 hours of onset of fever. Caregivers preference of home treatment of malaria to hospital is greatly influenced by a lot of reasons with high cost of hospital bills (53.5%) being the highest reason among many. Prevalence of malaria among the mothers and caregivers was 36(18.0%) which was dependent on their age (X2=44.629, df=3, P=0.000) and educational status but not with occupation. However, malaria prevalence among the children was 50(25%) even though it was not significant in relation to age and sex of the children (P>0.05). The effectiveness of home management of malaria depends on the early diagnosis, prompt and appropriate use of health facilities for treatment of malaria symptom especially fever. Therefore, health programmes and special campaigns to enlighten mothers and caregivers on more of the dangers of delayed treatment for their children could help to improve their treatment seeking pattern.