School-based social and behavior change communication (SBCC) advances community exposure to malaria messages, acceptance, and preventive practices in Ethiopia: A pre-posttest study.

Abstract

BackgroundEthiopia has shown incredible success in malaria morbidity, mortality, and control. Community empowerment is a milestone to meet the ambitious plans of eliminating malaria by 2030.ObjectivesThis study aimed to evaluate school-based malaria social behavior change communication (SBCC) in terms of community message exposure, acceptance, knowledge, and practices.MethodsA community-based pre-posttest study was conducted in five districts of the Jimma Zone, Ethiopia. 762 and 759 households were sampled for baseline and end-line, respectively. The intervention engaged students from primary schools on participatory peer education within small groups, followed by exposing parents with malaria messages aimed to influencing ideation and preventive practices. The data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0. Proportion/mean differences were computed to compare both surveys on exposure, knowledge, perceptions, and practices at p ResultsThe study revealed a sharp increase in exposure to malaria messages with effect size (ES) of 65.7%, p ConclusionsEngaging school-aged children effectively advances community exposure, perception, and behaviors. We recommend the inclusion of school-based SBCC in the national malaria control programs.