Local people's response to malaria in pregnancy in Bar chando sub location, Siaya District, Kenya

Abstract

This study set out to investigate the local people's response to malaria in pregnancy in Bar Chando sub-location, Bondo Division. The study specifically sought to find out the local people's knowledge about malaria and the strategies used in responding to it, to identify the community's attitudes towards illness in pregnancy, and to determine local conditions that influence the utilization of health care services by pregnant women. The population sample was selected using non-probability sampling techniques. The principal informants were male and female in the study ate a and a total of 110

respondents were interviewed. The data were collected using interviewer- administered standardized questionnaire, non-participant direct observation and conversational interviewing. The coded data were analysed both qualitatively and quantitatively and the outcome presented in the form of frequencies, percentages and tables. Cultural ecology theory guided this study. This theory is concerned with the way people use their culture to adapt to the environment in which they find themselves. The findings of the study revealed that people's knowledge about malaria varied and this seemed to influence their perceptions about the symptoms of the disease. the therapeutic options were, however, influenced by factors other than the perceived symptoms of malaria. The community's attitudes towards pregnancy had implications for the health status of pregnant women as pregnancy was not perceived as a sickness. The study also revealed that the utilization of health care facilities by pregnant women was influenced by socio-economic, cultural and environmental factors. Following these findings it is recommended that health education should be intensified with a view to sensitizing people about the effects of malaria In pregnancy and how it may be prevented and controlled. The intersectoral approach to community development should similarly be adopted as one of the strategies for malaria control in pregnancy. It is also recommended that self¬medication should be officially recognized. This should be followed with scientific research on indigenous medicine to establish its efficacy fat safe use. as an antimalaria treatment. Lastly the local shopkeepers who sell non-prescription patent medicine should be educated so that they can advise their customers on the correct anti malaria medicine and its usage.