INTRODUCING A HEALTH EDUCATION PROGRAM ON MALARIA DISEASE AT NKANU LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA - NIGERIA

摘要

The major purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a health education program on malaria disease control among the citizens of Nkanu-local government area, a community in Nigeria. Before the program was introduced to the treatment group, 50 subjects were randomly selected from a neighboring community and were exposed to survey questionnaire designed to find out what they knew about mosquito control measures. This gave the investigator the opportunity to assess the entry level of future program participants and also, the chance to appropriately construct the program to which the treatment group was exposed.;Participants to this study consisted of subjects that used the Nkanu community hospital for their health care. Initially, 300 subjects were randomly selected for the study (150 experimental and 150 control) from Ama-nkanu village, but only 202 subjects completed the study (95 experimental and 107 control). The experimental group was presented with the program and to determine the effect of the program, the two groups were given knowledge and field tests.;Results of the pre and post-test on field tests and that of post-test on knowledge acquisition demonstrated significant differences between the two groups on knowledge and environmental improvements. The treatment group performed better than the control group on the knowledge test. A t-test value of 15.02 with 179 degrees of freedom was statistically significant at P < .0001. On the environmental tests,the experimental group also demonstrated noticeable changes (improvements) when compared to the control group. A t-test value of -6.22 with 200 degrees of freedom was statistically significant at P < .0001.;Analysis of the survey questionnaire revealed that 54% of the subjects interviewed preferred using their respective backyard for refuse disposal. Also, the list of those selected for the study revealed that 34% of the study group visited the hospital because of malaria disease. The study, therefore, demonstrated that the health education program on malaria disease led to an increased level of knowledge on mosquito control measures and was also associated with better health practices related to malaria disease control.