Awareness and use of insecticide treated nets among women attending ante-natal clinic in a northern state of Nigeria.

OBJECTIVE To determine the awareness, accessibility and use of ITN by pregnant women attending ante-natal clinic (ANC) at the Primary Health Care (PHC) level considering the Government commitment of ensuring that at least 60% of pregnant women benefit from ITN by year 2010. METHODS This descriptive cross sectional study was carried out in all 78 PHC centres in the state. Four hundred and fifty-five (455) pregnant women that consented to the study where interviewed during their ANC sessions using semi-structured questionnaires. Data entry and analysis was done on a micro computer; frequency tables and cross tabulations of important variables were done; and Chi-square test was used for the test of significance. RESULTS About one-third 164 (36%) of the respondents were aware of ITN in malaria prevention, but less than a third 124 (27%) had ever used it and only 88 (19%) were currently using it, while 104 (23%) of the total respondents had a member of their household using ITN. Some of the difficulties encountered or experienced by respondents currently using ITN were scarcity of new nets, difficulty in getting chemicals for re-treatment of nets, non availability of quality ITN for sale. Three hundred and thirty-one (73%) respondents have never used ITN before because of lack of awareness 136 (41%), price of ITN is too costly 26 (8%) and non-availability of ITN for purchase 67 (20%). Respondents' age, educational level, parity and source of information or awareness on ITN have no significant influence on ITN use (P > 0.05); however, the frequency of malaria attack among respondents using ITN was lower than those not using it and this was significant (P > 0.0043). CONCLUSION Awareness and utilization of ITN among pregnant women and their household members is still low despite Government policy of free ITN for vulnerable groups and subsidized nets for other people. There is need to focus on creating demand for ITNs through all available health information channels including social marketing.