Effect of Health Education on Knowledge Attitude Practice towards Malaria among Basic Schools Pupils in Taiz

Abstract

Background: Malaria is one of the main health problems in Yemen. Health education is essential for the control of diseases such as malaria. School-age children represent 25% of Yemen’s population. Schools children can convey the knowledge and skills that they acquire at school to the community, thus increasing general community awareness about malaria. Aim to determine the impact of school-based malaria education intervention on knowledge, attitude and practice of school children towards malaria prevention and control. Methods: We conducted a community-based trial, intervention and non-intervention comparison (exposed & non-exposed), in four randomly selected districts (rural and urban) of Taiz governorate. This study was conducted in four districts of Taiz governorate. The study population was 2130 pupils of grade 6, 7, and 8 in primary schools, chosen from four randomly selected districts; two of them were rural and the others urban. Four schools and their pupils (1065 pupils) were chosen for the study and assigned as an intervention group and four schools with their pupils (1065) were chosen for the study and assigned as a non-intervention (1065 pupils). Data were collected using questioner in intervention and non-intervention schools (three months apart). The major intervention activities included lectures about malaria, distribution of educational materials. χ 2 was used to analyze differences. Results: Health education activities in schools were associated with the increased knowledge of malaria symptoms and methods of prevention. The mean knowledge of malaria symptoms is higher in the intervention schools 4.4 ± 1.9, compared with 2.1 ± 1.4 in the non-intervention group. With statistically significant difference (P < 0.001), also the positive attitude and practice toward malaria was higher to be (48%) in the intervention group; compared with (35%) in the non-intervention group the difference was statistically significant. The knowledge of mode of malaria transmission was higher in the intervention schools to be (86.2%) compared with (59.1%) in the non-intervention group, with statistically significant deference (P value <0.001). The knowledge of fever as a main malaria symptom was higher to be (90.4%) in the intervention schools compared with (63.6%) in the non-intervention schools with statistically significant deference. Conclusions and Recommendation: This study concludes that the health education intervention in primary schools in Taize governorate had a positive impact on the knowledge, attitude and practice of pupils. We recommend to conduct similar methods of the health education activities in schools with suitable modifications to reach all schools level.