RESEARCH ARTICLE


The Study on the Awareness, Knowledge and Perception of Malaria among Selected Secondary School Students in Akure Metropolis, Nigeria



Omoya F. Oluyemi*, Ajayi K. Oluyemi
Department of Microbiology, School of Sciences, The Federal University of Technology, P. M. B 704, Akure, Nigeria.


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Creative Commons License
© 2017 Oluyemi et al.

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Microbiology, Federal University of Technology, P. M. B 704, Akure, Nigeria; Tel: +2348033708650; E-mails: fomoya@yahoo.com, ooluyhemikehinde@yahoo.com


Abstract

Background:

The negligence of health education and promotion has contributed to increase in morbidity and mortality of malaria among children.

Method:

This study was carried out in selected secondary schools in Akure, South-western Nigeria to assess the level of awareness, knowledge and perceptive of the use of treated mosquito nets among children of age group 9 and 17 years. 200 pieces of questionnaires were distributed randomly to the respondents.

Results and Discussion:

Demographic information of respondents, awareness, knowledge and perception on malaria was obtained. 96% of the respondents know that mosquito transmits malaria parasite. The respondents’ knowledge on the symptoms of malaria as persistence headache was 94% while 6% wrongly said itching and bleeding were among the symptoms of malaria. 74% have experienced mosquito bites while 26% haven't experienced it. Sleeping under treated net by the respondents was poor as only 2% of them always sleep under insecticide treated net and 44% never sleep under it. Although, awareness of malaria among the secondary school students is high, there is a high percentage (%) of the respondents who never sleep under insecticide treated net.

Conclusion:

Therefore, health education on awareness of insecticide-treated net should be emphasised for successful elimination of malaria.

Keywords: Awareness, Knowledge, Bed treated net, Malaria, Children.