TITLE:
Uptake of Intermittent Preventive Treatment for Malaria and Treatment of Malaria in Pregnancy at a Tertiary Hospital
AUTHORS:
Assumpta N. Nweke, Okechukwu E. Ndukwe, Ifeoma C. Uche Omovoh, Moses Ikegbu, Chuka N. Obi, Okechukwu C. Mbanefo, Victor U. J. Onuchukwu
KEYWORDS:
Intermittent Preventive Treatment, Pregnancy, Malaria
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.12 No.12,
December
19,
2025
ABSTRACT: Background: Malaria is a disease of global health concern; however, it has even a greater impact on people in Sub-Saharan Africa, of which Nigeria is a part. Pregnant women and those who are immunocompromised are more susceptible to malaria and these groups may show life-threatening symptoms, which have led to the recommendation of intermittent preventive treatment for malaria in pregnancy. In spite of this, the prevalence of malaria in pregnant women has remained high, thus the need to study the uptake of IPTp. Objective: To determine the uptake of IPTp-SP and its prevention of malaria in pregnancy. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study to determine the uptake of intermittent preventive treatment of malaria using sulfonamide-pyrimethamine and its prevention of malaria in pregnancy at Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State. Results were presented in numbers and percentages, and Pearson’s correlation and Spearman’s correlation were used to analyse the relationship between the number of doses of IPTp-SP and malaria in pregnancy. A p-value of ≤0.05 was taken to be statistically significant. Results: Thirty-five women (19.0%) reported using Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy (ACT), and 8 (4.3%) could not recall the drug used for their treatment of malaria. About half of the respondents (93; 50.5%) received four doses, while 39 (21.2%) received five doses. Among those who received four doses of IPTp, 78 respondents had no malaria treatment, while among those with five doses, 36 had no malaria treatment. Whereas majority of those who had lower than 2 doses of SP had more treatments for malaria. The study showed a negative correlation between IPTp-SP dose and frequency of malaria treatment (Pearson r = −0.351, Spearman ρ = −0.373; p Conclusion: Most of the women took more than 3 doses of IPTp and those who had malaria had treatment with ACT. Increased doses of IPTp in pregnancy are vital in the prevention of malaria in pregnancy.