People's perceptions of malaria and its socio- economic consequences at the household level Bagamoyo - District Tanzania

Abstract

A cross-sectional study was carried in a holoendemic area of Tanzania during the rainy season when the disease is reported to be most prevalent. A total of 397 households were involved in the study which included 646 respondents. These were interviewed concerning their perception on the cause of malaria, modes of malaria prevention, appropriate health action in case of malaria episode, impact of malaria on life and on working capacity. The findings were that: - 64.2% of the study population had a positive perception of malaria while 35.8% had not. Education, age, sex, household size were found to be significant predictors of positive perception of malaria. - The majority of the respondents were aware of the cause of malaria. - The mosquito-net alone or combined with other control measures was the control measure that most respondents perceived to be protective against malaria. - The majority of the respondents perceived modern medicine more appropriate than traditional healing in treating malaria. - They also perceived malaria to be life threatening and to have a negative impact on working capacity. - For each under-five suffering from malaria, 5.4 days were lost by the household member especially the mother who was found to be responsiblp for child care activities. An amount

found to be responsible for child care activities. An amount of 100 to 1200 T.Sh. were paid per sick child to cover expenses following the malaria episode. However, labour substitution of domestic activities was found to take place in affected household. Close relatives of the sick child like sister, aunt, grand-mother took over additional responsabilities. Given that mosquito-net was the most cited malaria control measure, the author suggests that prospective malaria control programme in the study area should include mosquito- net to meet people's expectations.