Abstract:
Malaria remains a major public health problem in Namibia; the country is classified unstable and prone to malaria epidemics, thus the indoor residual spraying programme was established in early 60‟s, after assessment study on malaria vectors prevalence was carried out. It is critical to understand knowledge, attitudes and practices entirety and perceptions of the rural communities‟ behavior link to malaria prevention measures in Africa particularly in the Namibian context. In some African countries, issues related to rural communities‟ knowledge, attitudes and practices studies observed hampering the effective implementation strategy for prevention measures of malaria. For example, in Namibia the poor involvement and participation of rural communities at risk of malaria predispose them not to value the importance of utilizing IRS in the prevention of malaria. The specific objectives of the study were 1to determine the knowledge of the rural communities on utilization of IRS in prevention of malaria, 2to describe attitude and practices of communities utilizing the IRS in the prevention of malaria, 3to determine the factors affecting the effective utilization of IRS by the community and compliances in relation with acceptance of IRS. The quantitative descriptive design was the study methodology used and Oshakati district was a representative sample of malaria endemic districts in the country. A total number of 102 (68%) household heads study population were interviewed. The study sample was five constituencies randomly selected from the total number of seven which are targeted for spraying on annual basis as representative sample for the total population of region. In each constituency two villages were randomly selected for study. The study results on knowledge of malaria have revealed 91% respondents knowledgeable about what malaria is including the transmission, causative agents and prevention measures. About 77.5% respondents indicate seeking medical assistance within 24 hours onset of the signs and symptoms; 22.5% indicated factors hampered was them not to be on time such unavailability of funds to pay transport to access health facilities on time and for pay hospital fees. About 95.1% indicated knowing that IRS is a measure to combat malaria and 9.8% were not sure what malaria is. About 72.6% respondents had their houses sprayed during spray-round prior the study; 81.4% indicated been protected by IRS against mosquitoes; 56% willingly accepted the IRS; 20.6% had their houses not sprayed for certain reasons and 6.8% refused the IRS. About 80.3% respondents preferred specific prevention measures by articulate a desire to use LLINs than IRS; and 92.1% supporting combined of measures (IRS and LLINs). Inadequate knowledge and understanding amongst the rural communities has no direct association with poor IRS utilization in prevention of malaria or low IRS coverage in the district. The study established that low IRS coverage is associated with insufficient IRS operational resources specifically the spray operators. Therefore, it was recommended for the district to increase IRS operational resources particularly the number of spray operators.
