A Hospital Based Study Of Malaria
[IN NDIEGORO COMMUNITY, ABA SOUTH L.G.A. ABIA STATE]

On methods of malaria treatment by the participants, table 5 revealed that a greater number (27.6%) of respondents buy anti-malarial drugs from chemist without prescription by a physician, 34 (12.0%) of the respondents consult the physician by attending hospitals, while 60 (21.1%) of the respondents depend solely a traditional medicine from traditional healers. These findings agree with the observations of Ezedinachiet al (1997) and Foster (1995).
Ezedinachiet al (1997) working on perception of malaria infection by people in two rural communities (Awi and IkotEdemOdo) in Cross River state of Nigeria, reported that traditional medicines were initial treatment responses, while formal health sector was consulted only if home initiated measures failed. Foster (1995) investigating on rural malaria in Gambia, reported that a large proportion of malaria patients receive some form of treatment in the home or community without ever making contact with the formal health services.
Of special interest is the revelation that few individuals (4.2%) indicated doing nothing at all to manage malaria. Whether they do not suffer the effects of the disease was not investigated. But it has been proved that some inherited disorders of haemoglobin such as sickle cell confer a reasonable degree of resistance against malaria to certain groups of individuals and that those individuals who are heterozygous for haemoglobin (AS) suffer malaria less frequently and less severely than normal individuals (Olumeseet al, 1997).
An attempt was made to relate the management practices of the people with educational qualification possessed by individuals. It was interesting to observe the highest percentage of those who attend hospitals to treat malaria were those processing secondary (26.5%) and tertiary education (38.2%). On the other hand, the highest percentage of those who buy anti-malarial drugs over the counter and those who use traditional medicine possessed informal and primary education. Again, the highest percentages of those who make use of traditional medicine were those possessing informal (57.1%) and primary education (21.7%). It was also observes that the lowest percentage of those who attend hospitals, possessed informal education (14.7%) (Table 6). From the foregoing, it is possible to conclude that the higher the education level of an individual, the better the malariamanagement practices. The level of education an individual possess directly improves the awareness of the individual to disease conditions.In this era of roll back malaria, this particular observation has emphasized the need for the people to be more aware of the disease through functional education and public enlightenment program.Health education therefore becomes very important to teach people the simple relationship between mosquito bites and malaria, the need to keep their environment clean and tidy, destroying anything that may become a conducive breeding site for malaria vectors and the current trends in the effective management of malarias. For a holistic control of malaria, therefore, everybody, that is, individuals, private agencies and government should be involved.