Tilaye Tesfaye, Deressa Wakgari
Department of Environmental Health, Gondar College of Health Sciences, Gondar University.
Ethiop Med J. 2007 Oct;45(4):343-51.
Malaria is becoming a major health problem in urban areas. Community perceptions, knowledge and practices have a major role in the implementation of effective malaria control interventions. Yet little is known about the perceptions and practices of urban community about urban malaria prevention and control.
The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices of an urban community about malaria prevention and control.
A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out in three randomly selected malarious Kebeles of Gondar Town during November-December 2004. Knowledge, attitudes and practices were assessed for 489 household members > or =18 years old.
Almost all respondents knew about malaria and recognized it as one of the major health problems of the community. About 58% knew that malaria could be transmitted from one person to another, and most (97.2%) associated malaria with the bite of mosquito. The most frequently reported symptoms of malaria included fever (96.3%), chills and shivering (96.3%), headache (96.1%), loss of appetite (92.2%) and joini pain (90.2%). Knowledge about the names of the currently used antimalarials, sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (90.4%) and chloroquine (81.6%), was high. About 39% of the total 163 surveyed households possessed at least one mosquito net; of these, 55 (83.7%) possessed one, 7 (11%) had two and 2 (2.3%) possessed three. Most respondents practiced draining stagnant water (46.3%) and clearing vegetation (43.3%) for malaria prevention.
Although considerable gaps were observed between knowledge and practices of malaria prevention and control methods, community knowledge, attitudes and practices on the cause, treatment and prevention of the disease were encouraging. Since malaria is identified as a major health problem, the use of personal protection methods such as insecticide treated mosquito nets should be encouraged through increasing access to it.
疟疾正成为城市地区的一个主要健康问题。社区认知、知识和行为在有效疟疾控制干预措施的实施中起着重要作用。然而，对于城市社区对城市疟疾预防和控制的认知与行为却知之甚少。
本研究旨在评估一个城市社区对疟疾预防和控制的知识、态度及行为。
2004年11月至12月期间，在贡德尔镇随机选取的3个疟疾流行的凯贝勒开展了一项基于社区的横断面研究。对489名年龄≥18岁的家庭成员的知识、态度和行为进行了评估。
几乎所有受访者都知晓疟疾，并将其视为社区的主要健康问题之一。约58%的人知道疟疾可在人与人之间传播，且大多数人（97.2%）将疟疾与蚊虫叮咬联系起来。最常报告的疟疾症状包括发热（96.3%）、寒战和发抖（96.3%）、头痛（96.1%）、食欲不振（92.2%）和关节疼痛（90.2%）。对当前使用的抗疟药磺胺多辛-乙胺嘧啶（90.4%）和氯喹（81.6%）名称的知晓率较高。在总共163户接受调查的家庭中，约39%至少拥有一顶蚊帐；其中，55户（83.7%）有一顶，7户（11%）有两顶，2户（2.3%）有三顶。大多数受访者采取排干积水（46.3%）和清除植被（43.3%）的措施预防疟疾。
尽管在疟疾预防和控制方法的知识与行为之间观察到了相当大的差距，但社区对该疾病的病因、治疗和预防的知识、态度及行为令人鼓舞。鉴于疟疾被认定为一个主要健康问题，应通过增加获取渠道来鼓励使用诸如经杀虫剂处理的蚊帐等个人防护方法。
