Impact of mass media campaigns on knowledge of malaria prevention measures among pregnant mothers in Uganda: a propensity score-matched analysis.

BACKGROUND: Uganda grapples with a considerable malaria burden, reporting prevalence rates of over 33% in some regions. To address this, the Uganda Ministry of Health employs audiovisual platforms for disseminating malaria prevention messages. However, the impact of these messages on pregnant women's knowledge of malaria prevention remains insufficiently explored. This paper therefore emphasizes the influence of audiovisual messages on the knowledge of malaria prevention measures among pregnant women in Uganda. METHODS: Secondary data obtained from the Uganda Malaria Indicator Survey (MIS) 2018-2019 was used for this analysis. Women aged 15-49 were included in the study. A total of 8868 women were selected using a two-stage sample design. The two stages of selection included clusters and households. Women who were currently pregnant were included in the study, resulting in a weighted sample of 721 women. Propensity score-matched analysis was used to evaluate the impact of access to malaria messages on knowledge of prevention measures. RESULTS: The study revealed that 39% [95% CI 34.0-44.2] of pregnant women were exposed to malaria messages before the survey. Those exposed had a 17.2% higher knowledge [ATT = 0.172; 95% CI 0.035-0.310] of using mosquito nets for prevention compared to those unexposed. Among women exposed, radios accounted for most form of access to mass media campaigns [64.8, 95% CI 57.0-71.8] followed by interpersonal communication [45.0, 95% CI 37.6-52.6], community health workers [38.8, 95% CI 29.6-48.8], community events [21.4, 95% CI 15.8-28.3], and social mobilization [18.3, 95% CI 12.7-25.8]. CONCLUSION: Results highlight the importance of radios in spreading important malaria prevention messages to pregnant women. Being exposed to these messages is linked to increased awareness and knowledge about the proper use of insecticide-treated bed nets (ITNs) for preventing malaria. This finding underscores the importance of evaluating different channels for mass media campaigns to ensure the effective delivery of information about malaria prevention to the intended audiences.

High prevalence of malaria in pregnancy among women attending antenatal care at a large referral hospital in northwestern Uganda: A cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Malaria in pregnancy contributes to substantial morbidity and mortality among women in Uganda. However, there is limited information on the prevalence and factors associated with malaria in pregnancy among women in Arua district, northwestern Uganda. We, therefore, assessed the prevalence and factors associated with malaria in pregnancy among women attending routine antenatal care (ANC) clinics at Arua regional referral hospital in north-western Uganda. METHODS: We conducted an analytic cross-sectional study between October and December 2021. We used a paper-based structured questionnaire to collect data on maternal socio-demographic and obstetric factors and malaria preventive measures. Malaria in pregnancy was defined as a positive rapid malarial antigen test during ANC visits. We performed a modified Poisson regression analysis with robust standard errors to determine factors independently associated with malaria in pregnancy, reported as adjusted prevalence ratios (aPR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). RESULTS: We studied 238 pregnant women with a mean age of 25.32±5.79 years that attended the ANC clinic, all without symptomatic malaria. Of the participants, 173 (72.7%) were in their second or third trimester, 117 (49.2%) were first or second-time pregnant women, and 212 (89.1%) reported sleeping under insecticide-treated bednets (ITNs) every day. The prevalence of malaria in pregnancy was 26.1% (62/238) by rapid diagnostic testing (RDT), with the independently associated factors being daily use of insecticide-treated bednets (aPR 0.41, 95% CI 0.28, 0.62), first ANC visit after 12 weeks of gestation (aPR1.78, 95% CI 1.05, 3.03), and being in the second or third trimester (aPR 0.45, 95% CI 0.26, 0.76). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of malaria in pregnancy among women attending ANC in this setting is high. We recommend the provision of insecticide-treated bednets to all pregnant women and early ANC attendance to enable access to malaria preventive therapy and related interventions.