Browsing by Author "Sosu, Daniel"

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    The level of awareness and use of insecticide treated bed nets among pregnant women in the Bekwai Municipality, Ghana
    (NOVEMBER, 2015) Sosu, Daniel
    Malaria constitutes one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality and accounts for nearly 3 million deaths globally each year with an estimate of 90% occurring in Sub Sahara Africa. Global efforts have therefore targeted halving the malaria burden by 2015 and also achieving 80% Insecticide Treated Bed Nets (ITNs) use among susceptible groups like pregnant women and children less than five years of age. This study sought to assess the level of awareness and use of ITNs among pregnant women in the Bekwai Municipality of the Ashanti Region. A descriptive cross-sectional study with quantitative methods was conducted with 384 pregnant women attending Anti Natal-Care Clinics (ANC) at four (4) selected health facilities in the Bekwai Municipality. A simple random sampling was used to select the respondents. A semi-structured questionnaire comprising open and closed-ended questions was administered to respondents. Data was analysed using descriptive and analytical statistics at 95% confidence interval using STATA (version 12). The average age of the respondents were 29 years with a standard deviation of 6.19, about 41.7% were JHS graduates while most respondents (27%) were unemployed. The awareness of ITN was high among pregnant women; 95.8% were aware and 96.5% understood ITN as a protection against mosquito bites. About 53.1% of respondents own ITN such that 83% of those who own slept under it. The age, marital status and education level had significant relationship with possession of ITN among pregnant women (p=0.03, p=0.005 and p=0.04). The results revealed positive perception of ITN among pregnant women; 95.7% believe ITN is a strategy to prevent malaria. The study concludes on high awareness and positive perception of ITN among pregnant women and recommends ways of making it accessible to improve its usage.