TITLE:
Effect of environmental hygiene and water storage on the prevalence of malaria among pregnant women in Abeokuta, Nigeria
AUTHORS:
Olufunmilayo Ajoke Idowu
KEYWORDS:
Prevalence; Parasitaemia; Pregnant; Environmental Factors; Infection
JOURNAL NAME:
Health,
Vol.6 No.1,
January
26,
2014
ABSTRACT: The effect of availability
of cultivated and/or uncultivated land, stagnant water around residential areas and the practice of
water storage on the prevalence of malaria
infection was assessed among four hundred and sixty-four (464) pregnant
women. The prevalence of malaria infection recorded at one stage of pregnancy
or the other among enrolled women in this study was 56.9%. Records of infection observed among women living in areas where there were stagnant water and cultivated or uncultivated land were not statistically
different from those without such environmental factors in their residence (P
> 0.05). The practice of water storage
though still a common practice among women in Abeokuta (98.9%) was
also not found to significantly influence the malaria status of the pregnant
women; infection was higher among women that
did not store water in their homes than those that claim to store.
Storing of water was mainly in containers with cover implying that the women have a good understanding of the necessary precaution for storing water in homes; there was also no significant difference between
mode of water storage and parasitaemia. The
physico-chemical composition of the
tap water stored may have prevented the breeding of Anopheles mosquitoes
in them. We conclude that water storage in
homes may not be strong risk behaviour for malaria transmission especially in areas where appropriate measures are employed for water storage in homes.