[Application of health education of house-to-house visit in malaria prevention and control].

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the effects of health education of house-to-house visit in malaria prevention and control in the border and minority areas.

METHODS

A health education of house-to-house visit in malaria prevention and control was carried out, and baseline and follow up surveys were conducted by qualitative and quantitative methods to document the changes of local villagers' knowledge, attitudes and behaviors (KAP) of malaria prevention and control in 2 counties of Yunnan Province, and the results before and after the interventions were analyzed and compared.

RESULTS

After the intervention, the cognition rates about malaria symptoms and signs, transmission mode, preventive measures and health-seeking behaviors were 99.3%, 98.9%, 79.9% and 99.3% respectively in the local residents, and those were 39.2%, 8.2%, 47.0% and 49.9% respectively before the intervention, and all the differences were statistically significant (P all < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

KAP related to malaria among the targeting population has improved after the interventions and the house-to-house visit is an effective community-based health education approach.