Outpatient prevention counseling for malaria in northwest Nigeria: A single-centre descriptive cross-sectional study

Abstract

Objective: To assess the proportion of caregivers of children and patients who received malaria prevention counseling from their healthcare provider at the time of outpatient malaria treatment. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study involving 353 randomly selected adult patients and caregivers of children attending the general and paediatric outpatient clinics of a Nigerian hospital. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data on participants’ sociodemographics and last malaria-episode characteristics. Chi square test and logistic regression analysis were used to determine factors associated with and predictors of receiving malaria-prevention counseling, respectively. Results: The mean age of the respondents was (33.6±9.6) years; they were predominantly females (257, 72.8%). Most had at least secondary-level education (304, 86.1%); the family size was mostly 1-6 persons in 202 (57.2%) respondents. They were treated mostly by doctors 256 (72.5%), but only 132 (37.4%) received malaria prevention counseling. Educational-level (χ2 =5.42, P=0.02), family size (Fisher’s exact, P=0.01), place of treatment (Fisher’s exact, P=0.0002), pretreatment malaria test (χ2 =9.48, P=0.002), who prescribed treatment (Fisher’s exact P=0.001), consultation time (χ2 =22.09, P<0.001), and previous demand for malaria prevention counseling (X2=36.59, P<0.001) were associated with receiving malaria prevention counseling. However, consultation time [Odd ratio (OR)=2.38, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.28, 4.40, P =0.006] and previous demand for malaria prevention counseling (OR =3.62, 95% CI: 2.15, 6.10, P<0.001) were independent predictors of receiving counseling. Conclusions: The proportion of respondents that received malaria prevention counseling was surprisingly low. This offers opportunity for policy review towards improving the quality of outpatient malaria care through alternative strategies for giving malaria prevention information, especially in busy clinics where consultation time is constrained.

Keywords

• counseling
• healthcare provider
• malaria
• outpatients
• prevention