Supervised School Based Health Education on Malaria: Reinforcing Pupils' Knowledge

Abstract

Background: Malaria is a disease transmitted through the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito. It accounts for about 350–500 million clinical cases of morbidity worldwide and up to 50% of all deaths among African school-age children; being one of the commonest causes of childhood mortality in the country. Aim: The effect of a supervised malaria school based health education on pupils’ knowledge of malaria was determined. Materials and Methods: The study was a school based interventional study. Health education was used to reinforce teachers’ knowledge on malaria along with equipping them with relevant malaria teaching aids. Teachers’ in turn incorporated information into their pupils’ lesson notes. Pupils’ knowledge on malaria was compared initially at baseline and after the series of class lessons taught by their teachers through an interviewer administered questionnaires. Statistical analysis: Microsoft word Excel 2007 was used for data entry and cleaning while SPSS Version 16.0 was used for analysis. Results: One hundred and thirty pupils participated in the study 67 (51.5%) males and 63 (48.5%) females. The mean age was 9 ± 1.54 years. An improvement in malaria knowledge was recorded among the pupils at post-intervention in all aspects of the disease. Conclusion: An improvement in pupils’ knowledge on malaria may be achieved through a supervised teachers’ health education on malaria.