Knowledge, Attitude, Perception and Practice Influencing the Occurrence of Malaria in Households of Peri-Urban Communities in Abuja

Abstract

Malaria is unique among diseases because its roots lie so deep within human communities. Malaria is a threat to more than 40% of the world's population. The role of household residents and communities cannot be overemphasized. The study examined the knowledge, attitude and practice influencing the occurrence of malaria in households of Peri-Urban Communities in Abuja. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey research that is guided by the Health Belief Model using quantitative methods of data collection. The study employed a multi-staged sampling technique to select 414 households in Abaji and Kuje peri-urban communities in Abuja. However, 385 household residents of peri-urban communities participated in the study. Research questions and hypotheses were formulated and were tested using the SPSS version 27 to compute descriptive and inferential statistics which were tested at a 5% level of confidence. Majority of respondents 47.5% are above the age of 36years with the mean age of 47.1± 19.8. findings revealed that 59.9% of the residents had good level of knowledge of malaria among households residents in peri-urban communities in Abuja mean of 16.3 ± 4.07, 46.7% of the households residents had good level of attitude towards malaria prevention in the peri-urban communities in Abuja 21.9 ±Std. Dev = 2.96 more than forty percent of the participants had a good level of practice of malaria prevention among households residents of peri-urban communities in Abuja Mean 21.9±. .96. From the test of hypothesis, the first hypothesis showed there was a significant relationship between knowledge level of households and attitude towards occurrence of Malaria in Peri Urban Communities in Abuja (R=0.803, p< 0.000). The second hypothesis indicated that there was a significant relationship between demographic characteristics (Age, marital status, family type, level of education and religion) and attitude towards the occurrence of Malaria in Peri Urban Communities in Abuja (p< 0.000) The third hypothesis showed that both perceived susceptibility and perceived barriers was significant predictor of knowledge of malaria occurrence among household residents of Peri-Urban communities. The calculated R Square and p-value for perceived susceptibility and barriers is: 0.716 which signifies 71.6% contribution to knowledge of occurrence of malaria among household residents of Peri-Urban communities (p=0.000) In conclusion, the study established that there was a good level of knowledge and attitude about malaria while there was high perceived seriousness of malaria while there was low level of perceived barrier toward malaria. It is therefore important for a development of social, communication and behavior change on prevention of malaria occurrence among household residents in communities. Government should also provide malaria prevention tools like ITN, drugs and vaccination for residents of peri-urban communities.