[Evaluation of transfer of knowledge about malaria by health professionals to patients' mothers in Nouna, Burkina Faso].

To reduce the infant mortality rate associated with malaria, the WHO recommends preventive home treatment by antimalarial drugs for all children with fever. This practice requires some medical knowledge by mothers who want to treat their children. In Burkina Faso, the main source of the transmission of such knowledge and skills is the interaction between health professionals and mothers during consultations for their children. The main objective of this study was to assess the transfer of knowledge by health professionals to mothers about the causes, symptoms and treatment of malaria in the health district of Nouna, in the province of Kossi, Burkina Faso. The results showed that at the time of the interview very few mothers were able to recognize malaria and treat it adequately. Mothers' lack of malaria-related knowledge and skills was quite substantial and even more pronounced in the sample of mothers from villages. Many did not know the exact cause of malaria or how to treat it. In view of the factors that must be taken into account for the successful treatment of malaria at home (appropriate dose for age, appropriate duration of treatment, appropriate, i.e.,antimalarial, drugs, quality of drugs) it is estimated that only 3.5% of all interviewed mothers had the knowledge necessary to treat malaria correctly at home. Health professionals appeared to agree that the mothers lacked these skills, but our data revealed that they did not provide information to the mothers to address this lack. Specifically, they did not routinely provide information about prevention by mosquito nets, diagnosis based on key symptoms such as fever, the importance of rapid consultation, rules for antimalarial dosing according to age, the risks of under-medication or the dangers related to the purchase and consumption of street drugs that may be counterfeit or have expired.