Leonard Ngimuh, Eric Fokam Bertrand, Judith Anchang-Kimbi K, Samuel Wanji
Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, University of Buea, Buea, 63 Cameroon.
Department of Zoology and Animal Physiology, University of Buea, Buea, 63 Cameroon.
Arch Public Health. 2016 Feb 1;74:5. doi: 10.1186/s13690-016-0116-1. eCollection 2016.
Malaria in pregnancy has been shown to cause both maternal and infant morbidity and mortality especially in sub Saharan Africa. The World Health Organization therefore recommends the use of insecticide treated nets (ITNs), intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) and effective management of clinical malaria. The main aim of this study was to assess the coverage of ITN and IPT among pregnant women and the factors associated with their use in the Buea Health District of Cameroon.
A cross sectional study was carried out from April to July 2014, in the Buea Health District which included 292 pregnant women attending antenatal care at clinics in the area. A structured questionnaire was use to obtain demographic data of participants and information on IPT and ITN use.
The Overall coverage rate of IPT was 88.7 % and 43.8 % for ITN while the overall non usage rate for IPT and ITN was 11.3 % and 17.5 % respectively. Occupation, educational level, trimester and number of ANC were statistically significant to ITN use by bivariate analyses while being a student/ unemployed (OR = 0.25, 95 % CI = 0.07-0.95)) was negatively associated to ITN use by multivariate analysis. For IPTp-SP, occupation of participants, educational level, trimester of pregnancy and number of ANC were statistically significantly by bivariate analyses while attending ANC just once (OR = 0.006, 95 % CI = 0.00-0.04) was negatively associated to IPTp-SP use by multivariate analyses.
This study identified that the use of IPT was fairly good, while ITN use was still low despite their free distribution. Therefore, frequent antenatal care visits and involvement of participants in a potential income generating venture (Business or earning a salary) will increase IPT and ITN usage.
孕期疟疾已被证明会导致孕产妇和婴儿发病及死亡，尤其是在撒哈拉以南非洲地区。因此，世界卫生组织建议使用经杀虫剂处理的蚊帐（ITN）、间歇性预防治疗（IPT）以及对临床疟疾进行有效管理。本研究的主要目的是评估喀麦隆布埃亚健康区孕妇中ITN和IPT的覆盖率及其使用的相关因素。
2014年4月至7月在布埃亚健康区开展了一项横断面研究，纳入了该地区诊所接受产前护理的292名孕妇。使用结构化问卷获取参与者的人口统计学数据以及关于IPT和ITN使用的信息。
IPT的总体覆盖率为88.7%，ITN为43.8%，而IPT和ITN的总体未使用率分别为11.3%和17.5%。通过双变量分析，职业、教育水平、孕期和产前检查次数对ITN的使用具有统计学意义，而多变量分析显示作为学生/失业者（比值比=0.25，95%置信区间=0.07-0.95）与ITN使用呈负相关。对于IPT-SP，通过双变量分析参与者的职业、教育水平、孕期和产前检查次数具有统计学意义，而多变量分析显示仅进行一次产前检查（比值比=0.006，95%置信区间=0.00-0.04）与IPT-SP使用呈负相关。
本研究发现IPT的使用情况较好，而尽管ITN是免费发放的，但其使用率仍然较低。因此，增加产前检查次数以及让参与者参与潜在的创收活动（商业活动或赚取工资）将提高IPT和ITN的使用率。
