Impact of a decade-long anti-malaria crusade in a West African community

Objective: To assess the rate of utilization of long lasting insecticide treated bed nets (LLINs)\udwhich is one of the cardinal components of the program, a decade-long antimalarial campaign\udunder the roll back malaria (RBM) initiative. Methods: The study was carried out between\udOctober and December 2009 and cross-sectional in nature involving adult women in Otukpo town\udand environs. Households were selected using systematic sampling methods where all the adult\udwomen in each household were interviewed. Relevant information such as age, marital status,\udoccupation, utilization of LLINs and reasons for non-utilization were obtained. Data obtained were\udanalysed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and regression coefficient. Results: Almost 100%\ud(3 154) of the respondents could associate malaria fever with mosquito bite although other causes\udwere also mentioned. The overall any bed net utilization in Otukpo town was found to be 58.3%\ud(1 849). LLINs utilization was found to be 23.3% (739). 35.0% (1 110) used untreated bed nets while\ud41.7% (1 322) had no bed net. Positive predictors for LLINs utilization were increasing educational\udlevels, increasing wealth index and presence of an under five child, while lower wealth index\udand cultural beliefs negatively contributed to LLINs utilization. Conclusions: The RBM program\udin the community has failed to yield the desired results. Efforts should be intensified towards\udaddressing the socioeconomic, cultural, literary and logistic factors in order to reach this goal