Knowledge, attitude and practice of pregnant women in the use of IPT in prevention of malaria in pregnancy - a research of pregnant women attending ANC at Holy Family Hospital, Berekum.

Abstract

Introduction: Malaria infection at early pregnancy disrupts the normal placentation as the maternal placenta continues to develop, which, in turn, impairs and decreases the placenta‟s ability to transport nutrition to fetus and decreases maternal hemoglobin level (Huynh, et al., 2014). The purpose of this research study is examine knowledge, attitude and practice of pregnant women in the use of IPT in prevention of malaria in pregnancy - A research of pregnant women attending ANC at Holy Family Hospital, Berekum. Enough literature related to the study was reviewed as this served as a basis for subsequent comparison of findings and discussion of the research. Methodology: The study applied a descriptive cross-sectional study design using quantitative research approach. Convenience sampling under non-probability sampling technique or method was used to gain access to respondents for the study group. Base on this sampling type, the respondents are specifically selected for the purpose of the research. The total sample size for this study was 30 pregnant women. The sample size was drawn from the population of pregnant women attending Antenatal Clinic at Holy Family Hospital, Berekum. They were conveniently. A well-structured interview guide with open and close ended questions were used to collect data from respondents. With the open ended questions, respondents were given their opinion about the question posed to them. Close ended questions limit respondents to only the answers provided by the researcher, that is “Yes” or “No”. Questionnaires were administered to the respondents, which comprises of both open ended and closed ended questions. Findings and Conclusions: Most of the pregnant women in this study have heard of IPTp-SP and have average knowledge of IPTp-SP as most of them know that it is given to prevent malaria iii during pregnancy. Fairly practice since the majority 80.0% received IPTp-SP free at the health facility and 14 (46.7%) responded on IPTp-SP tablet consumption (swallowing) take place in the facility under observation by health care providers. Recommendations: We therefore recommend education to be intensified by WHO for the pregnant women on the importance of IPTp-SP both on maternal health and foetal /newborn‟s health especially in malaria-endemic regions in Ghana. Meanwhile, more qualitative studies are needed to fully understand the individual factors that influence the intake of IPTp-SP to enhance policy decisions for the prevention of malaria associated pregnancy. Based on the result of this study, we recommended public health nurses, midwives and policy makers of the hospital help implement appropriate intervention strategy to create awareness of malaria in pregnancy as to increase treatment-seeking behavior of SP/Fansidar