Effectiveness of Counselling on the Use of Antimalaria’s Among Caregivers Attending Health Facilities at Tano District
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Date
2006-09-07
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Abstract
Resistance of Plasinodiumfalciparum to cheap and commonly used anti-malaria drugs, such as chioroquine, has been the bane of most African countries including Ghana. This phenomenon is mainly due to the inappropriate use of these drugs. The impact of parasite resistance to anti-malaria drugs on patients, especially pregnant women and children under five years, has been devastating. Currently resistance to chioroquine in Ghana is estimated to be over 25%. Thus most malaria-striken patients treated with chloroquine do not experience improvement in their clinical status. The Ministry of Health of Ghana, in an effort to improve patient outcomes, introduced a new drug policy that recommends the use of artesunateamodiaquine combination as a first line drug in the treatment of malaria. However the success of this policy also hinges on the appropriate use of the new drug by patients, prescribers and caregivers.
This study examined the effectiveness of counselling on the use of anti-malaria among caregivers attending health facilities in the Tano District. In this study, three variables [dose of drug, frequency of drug administration and duration of drug treatment] were used to assess whether or not respondents were effectively counselled on the use of anti-malaria. The study also assessed the effectiveness of counselling on malaria prevention and home-based remedies for malaria control.
Most respondents [63%] did not know how to treat malaria appropriately with anti-malaria drugs. Similarly the study revealed that over 62% of the respondents did not know how to treat fever appropriately with an antipyretic.
Description
A thesis submitted to the Department of Clinical and Social Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the award of a Master of Science [Clinical
Pharmacy] Degree, 2006.