RESULTS

Of 205 Study Subjects 55.1% were Females and 44.9% Males. Majority of the study
subjects are Oromo(79.5%,n=163) by ethnicity and Muslim(75.6%,n=155) in religion.
47.8%(n=98) mentioned that they didn’t receive formal education such that 41.9%(n=86)
reported that they were illiterate and 5.9%(n=12) mentioned that they can read and write
only.Whereas,39.5%(n=81)were completed higher education.

The majority (67.3%,n=138) had in their household at least one child of under 5 age
group ,which is a vulnerable segment of the population for malaria complication.
Their main access to information is Mass Media.(Table 1)

Almost all respondents described malaria is a serious problem in the community but it
showed a significant drop in occurrence recently.This is due to continuous health
education given to them by health extension workers.

Mosquito bite alone (50.2%,n=103) and Germ in Mosquito(47.3%,n=97) were frequently

reported perceived causes of malaria followed by dirty environment(2.4%,n=5).(Table 2)
Fever, Headache and Chills/rigors are the most frequently mentioned perceived
symptoms of malaria by 100%(n=205) respondents.(Table 3)

76.5% of the respondents reported they knew malaria could be communicable within the
household if one member have the illness.52.4% of the respondents mentioned they
didn’t know that mosquito transmit small germ which causes the disease.The knowledge
of malaria transmission and prevention for statistically associated with literacy status of
the respondent( x2 = 70.44, p-value = 0.000, n = 205). This shows as literacy status is
higher their knowledge towards malaria transmission is also higher (table 4). Of all
interviewed 37 %(n=76) reported that they had at least one person in their household who
had malarial attack in the previous one month. 30.2 % (n=62) received treatment from
health center, 5.8 %(n=12) from private clinic and 1 %(n=2) from near drug vendor.
Coartem (62.2 %), chloroquine (44.6 %) and paracetamol (5.8 %) where the drugs
reported to have been taken for malaria treatment by respondents in the previous one
month. Of those who reported coartem, chloroquine and paracetamol; 3.2 %, 1.4 % and
13.9 % respectively mentioned inappropriate dosage in either the number of tablets taken
at once or timing of doses.

Among all study subjects 70.2 %(n=144) mentioned to know at least one traditional
medication for malaria treatment. ‘Nechi shunkurt’ and papaya were the most frequently
described substances by 59.7 % and 23.6 % of the respondents respectively. But none of
them are used traditional medication as a treatment in the previous one month (table 6).

Use of Bed nets and cover bed with adequate clothing 84.9%(n=174) were the major
personal/indoor protective measures used most frequently by respondents. Elimination of
mosquito breeding sites by draining stagnant water 100% and proper garbage disposal
66.8%(n=137) were reported as environmental/outdoor activity done to decrease
mosquito infestation(Table 7).

DISCUSSION
In this study Malaria was identified as a serious community health problem in the study
population. But it was showed significant drop in the occurrence recently.
However, the proportion of the respondents who associate mosquito bite with malaria in
this study (50.2%) was found lower than the finding of a similar study (79%) done in a
rural district of Zimbabwe(15) and was much lower than that in another study (85%)
done in Colombia(18).All most all respondents in this study were found to know
elimination of breeding sites as preventive means for not getting malaria. This finding is
much higher than that of similar study in Colombia (35.4%).This may be due to
continuous health education given by health extension workers to the study community.
The use of bed nets in Ogolcho town (84.9%) is much higher than that in Zimbabwe
(9%) and Colombia (25.5%).This discrepancy is likely due to small sample size of this
study. The knowledge of appropriate dosage of anti malarial drugs among the study
subjects (76.2% for chloroquine) is higher than the finding of related study (56%) done in
Zimbabwe. This discrepancy seems to be explained by the difference between the
accessibility to anti malarial drugs in the two populations.

In this study, which is conducted in the urban setting, almost all respondents get their
medication from professionally drug dispensing health facilities (drug vendors, health
centers) where better advice is given on the use of the drugs. On the other hand the study
in Zimbabwe was conducted in a rural setting where the respondents seem to be less
informed about proper drug use.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

CONCLUSION
The level of knowledge regarding the nature of malaria transmission and prevention of
the disease among the study community is high. Large proportions of the population have
good literacy status which has a significant influence on malaria related knowledge of the
community; hence resulted in good personal protection practices.
Although almost all the study community knows about bed net, there are still limitations
on its practical usage.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Taking the results of this study as a rationale the investigator would like to recommend
on:
 The importance of organizing and conducting sustainable health education
programs in the study community
With collaboration the local multi sectoral authorities and the community should work
aiming to improve the diagnostic and treatment facilities to avert or at least to cope with the

likely malaria outbreak due to the prominent environmental risk factors.