Perception and Experience of Childhood Malaria Management among Mothers of Under-five Children in Osogbo Osun State, Nigeria

Abstract Malaria remains a major health challenge in Nigeria despite efforts at reducing its prevalence. Previous studies on malaria focused mainly on the biomedical aspects with little attention given to the social characteristics influencing malaria management among mothers as primary caregivers of under-five children. This study, therefore, investigated perception and experience of childhood malaria management among mothers of under-five children in Osogbo Metropolis classified in literature as area with high childhood malaria prevalence. The Health Belief Model was adopted as theoretical framework, while the cross-sectional survey research design was employed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The study was conducted among selected mothers of under-five children using a multi-stage sampling procedure. Cochrane’s formula was used to determine the sample size of 561 respondents used. A structured questionnaire was administered on mothers to elicit information on socio-demographic characteristics, perceptions and experience of childhood malaria. Twelve focus group discussions were conducted with mothers whose under-five children had malaria in the six weeks preceding the study. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics and Chi-square at 0.05 level of significance. Qualitative data were content analysed. The age the mothers was 41.00 ± 7.2years. About 98.0% of the mothers perceived malaria as treatable, 54.0% of mothers perceived fever as major symptom of malaria, 58.3% said mosquito bite was the cause of malaria, while 65.6% stated that Insecticide Treated Net was the most effective method of malaria prevention. There were significant associations between knowledge of malaria prevention and income (χ2 = 57.00), and between knowledge of consequences of malaria and education (X2 = 50.55). Misconceptions still surround perception of malaria management among mothers of under-five children. More enlightenment efforts are needed to dispel fallacies mitigating against malaria management.