Factors influencing the use of mosquito bed nets among children under 5 years in Bunyoro sub-region

Abstract

The use of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) is an important strategy in preventing Malaria. Perceived risk of contracting malaria is crucial for the assessment of their risk regarding the actual use of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs), thus the objective of this paper is to examine the socio-demographic and economic factors influencing the use of mosquito bed nets among children under 5 years in Bunyoro sub-region. This study used data from the Malaria Indicator Survey which was carried out between 2018 and 2019 in Uganda. From a total of 8957 population, the researcher selected children under five years who slept under a mosquito net using non-random sampling and they consist of 661 respondents from Bunyoro sub-region and this was considered to be the sample size. It was found out that some factors that affected utilization of mosquito nets among children under five included; level of education, sex of household, place of residence, Place where mosquito net was obtained among others. The findings also point out that mosquito nets were too expensive for or were unavailable to the most vulnerable groups such as; pregnant women, children under 5 years of age, the poorest families and communities. There for there is need for continuous distribution of ITNs and to be effective they need to be used correctly and availed to all categories of individuals regardless of socio-demographic characteristics. I would also recommend that; public-private partnership be adapted to ensure availability of ITNs and insecticides in local shops and other outlets including arrangements at village level. The economic level of caregivers should be boosted to counteract the financial inadequacies, adoption of a behavior change strategy to transform caregivers‟ perceptions, beliefs and attitudes; and massive education of the population to enhance massive utilization of mosquito nets.