TITLE:
LLIN Ownership, Utilization, and Malaria Prevalence: An Outlook at the 2015 Nigeria Malaria Indicator Survey
AUTHORS:
Jalal-Eddeen Abubakar Saleh, Abdullahi Saddiq, Akubue Augustine Uchenna
KEYWORDS:
Malaria, Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets, Insecticide Treated Nets, Rapid Diagnostic Test, Roll Back Malaria, Prevalence, Malaria Indicator Survey, Nigeria
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.5 No.1,
January
25,
2018
ABSTRACT: Background: Malaria is a disease caused by an infected female Anopheles mosquito. Nigeria, one of the two epicenters of malaria transmission across the globe, contributes to 40 percent global malaria burden. The disease, considered a global priority, has an annual global death toll of around 400,000 people. The global reduction in malaria burden which is the result of direct scale-up of one of the core malaria interventions using the insecticide-treated nets (ITNs), has prevented around 663 million cases of malaria in the sub-Saharan Africa. The most cost-effective evidenced-based strategy against malaria and its unwanted consequences is sleeping under the LLINs; studies have proven this measure to confer adequate protection to the mother and her unborn child. Methods: Quantitative cross-sectional study using secondary data obtained during the 2015 Nigeria malaria indicator survey. The eligible participants in the survey were pregnant women and caregivers who had at least a child under the age of five years. The survey was conducted in October and November 2015 across the thirty-six states of the country including the Federal Capital Territory. Using SPSS version 24, correlation and regression analyses were run to check for any significant correlation between LLIN use and malaria prevalence. Results: The Pearson correlation is 0.866 (α = 0.026, p α = 0.017, p α = 0.175, p