Factors associated with the usage of malaria treatment among pregnant women in Uganda

Abstract

Malaria is one of the world's most serious public health issues. It's a severe and often deadly disease caused by a parasite that infects a specific form of a mosquito that feeds on people. It is a leading cause of death and disease in many developing countries. This study was conducted to examine the usage of malaria treatment among women in Uganda. The study used secondary data from the 2016 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey dataset. A sample of 445 women who were currently pregnant aged between 15- 49 years was used. Data was analyzed using Stata 14 into frequency tables using actual tallies and percentages and association between the dependent and independent variables was tested using the Pearson’s Chi-square test. The Study results show that of all the 445 pregnant women, 43.6% used malaria treatment in Uganda. Nearly 1 out of 2 were aged 15-24, 77.5% resided in rural places, 42.0% were catholics, 70.8% were living together/married, 50.6% were poor, 33.0% were in agricultural self-employment and 55.1% used mosquito nets. Findings from the study revealed that age, education, marital status and wealth index significantly influenced usage of malaria treatment among women in Uganda with the measure of significance at P ≤ 0.05. The study recommends that the government should invest more in education especially in the rural areas of the country as this will help improve the literacy levels of people and embrace the importance of seeking quality health care for pregnant women. The government should also construct more health facilities especially in remote parts of the country as well as subsidisation of health care to bring health services closer to the people. This will help improve the accessibility and affordability of health services especially to pregnant women irrespective of the wealth index and thus reduce malaria prevalence. .