Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Disease Control, School of Public Health, University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana.
PLoS One. 2023 Jan 6;18(1):e0280065. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0280065. eCollection 2023.
Malaria poses a greater risk to children under the age of five years due to its high morbidity and mortality rates. The use of Insecticide-Treated Net (ITN) has been proven to be an effective preventive intervention in the control of malaria. However, its utilisation remains low. This study assessed the association of mother or caregiver's utilisation of ITN on its use by their children under five years of age in Ghana.
This study used data from the 2019 Ghana Malaria Indicator Survey (GMIS). The study analysed a weighted sample of 1,876 women aged 15-49 years who had at least one child under the age of five. In this study, the outcome variable is mosquito bed net use in children under five years. We performed descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and multinomial logistic regressions.
Of the women studied, 58.59% [95% CI: 55.39, 61.71] slept under mosquito bed nets the previous night. The utilisation of ITN in children under five was 61.88% [95% CI: 58.43, 65.2] on the night before the study. The adjusted logistic regression revealed that mothers/caregivers who slept under a mosquito bed net were more likely to have their children under five years of age sleeping under a mosquito bed net (RRR = 2.47, 95% CI: 1.48, 4.12; p <0.001). In addition, the use of ITN in children under five was also found to be predicted by the number of ANC visits, the number of children under five in the household, and wealth status.
The study found that the use of ITN by mothers/caregivers and their children remains low in Ghana. Nevertheless, we found that when a mother uses ITN, her children under the age of five are more likely to use it as well.
由于发病率和死亡率高，五岁以下儿童患疟疾的风险更大。事实证明，使用驱虫蚊帐（ITN）是控制疟疾的一种有效预防干预措施。然而，其利用率仍然很低。本研究评估了母亲或照顾者使用 ITN 与其五岁以下儿童使用 ITN 的相关性，该研究在加纳进行。
本研究使用了 2019 年加纳疟疾指标调查（GMIS）的数据。该研究分析了一个加权样本，其中包括 1876 名年龄在 15-49 岁之间、至少有一名五岁以下儿童的妇女。在这项研究中，结果变量是五岁以下儿童使用蚊帐。我们进行了描述性统计、卡方检验和多项逻辑回归。
在所研究的妇女中，58.59%[95%置信区间：55.39, 61.71]前一天晚上睡在蚊帐下。在研究前一天晚上，五岁以下儿童使用 ITN 的比例为 61.88%[95%置信区间：58.43, 65.2]。调整后的逻辑回归显示，睡在蚊帐下的母亲/照顾者更有可能让五岁以下的孩子也睡在蚊帐下（RRR=2.47, 95%置信区间：1.48, 4.12; p<0.001）。此外，还发现五岁以下儿童使用 ITN 的情况还可以通过 ANC 就诊次数、家庭中五岁以下儿童的数量和财富状况来预测。
研究发现，加纳母亲/照顾者及其五岁以下儿童使用 ITN 的比例仍然很低。尽管如此，我们发现当母亲使用 ITN 时，她五岁以下的孩子更有可能使用它。
