Low Uptake Of Intermittent Preventive Treatment (Ipt) For Malaria Among Pregnant Women In Selected Health Facilities In Shai-Osudoku District, Greater Accra, Ghana

ABSTRACT

Background: Despite a massive increase in private and public efforts over the years, malaria still remains one of the global health concerns. In sub- Saharan Africa, malaria in pregnancy (MiP) is responsible for 20% of stillbirths and 11% of all newborn deaths and 10,000 maternal deaths globally. The WHO in October 2012 recommended that all pregnant women be given the preventive treatment (IPT with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine) from the second trimester, with at least 3 doses until delivery. However, IPTp-SP uptake is usually low. In the Shai-Osudoku District, IPT3 uptake among pregnant women was 37.9% and only 6.4% of the registrants received 5 doses of IPTp-SP in 2018. This study assessed factors associated with the low uptake of IPTp-SP in four (4) selected health facilities in the ShaiOsudoku District, in Greater Accra, Ghana. Methods: This study employed cross-sectional design and covered 400 nursing mothers who had delivered in the past three months and all Antenatal Care (ANC) staff present at the time of the study. A structured questionnaire was administered to participants in four selected health facilities in the Shai-Osudoku District between July and August 2019. The data collected was cleaned and analyzed with STATA 15. The association between the outcome variable (low IPTp-SP uptake) and independent variables (age, parity, marital status, educational status, occupation, gestational age at 1st ANC visit, number of ANC visits, knowledge of MiP and knowledge of IPTp-SP) was assessed using the chi-square test. Logistic regression models were used to determine the factors influencing the low uptake of SP, each estimate reported with their 95% confidence interval (CI). The P-value of 0.05 was taken for statistical significance.