KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PERCEPTION OF CARE GIVERS TOWARDS MALARIA TESTING IN MGBOUSHIMINI COMMUNITY, OBIA-AKPOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, RIVERS, NIGERIA

Malaria pre-testing has long been one of the priorities and necessities for the control of malaria. Unfortunately, it is still being neglected due to lack of knowledge, poor attitude and perception, leading to so many unfavourable acts of anti-malarial treatment based on symptoms. This problem is the bedrock of this study. The study was carried out with the aim of determining the knowledge, attitude and perception of care givers towards malaria testing and also finding the factors that interferes with malaria pre-testing. The Target population for this study were out of which 440 male and female care givers in Mgboushimini community, within the ages of 18 to 65years. They were selected using simple random sampling technique. A descriptive cross-sectional research design was adopted and an online Google questionnaire was developed according to the objectives of the study. The collected data was analysed by a descriptive analysis using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20.0. The findings revealed an adequate knowledge of malaria testing in the respondents (89.09%), with Females (56.59%) showing more knowledge than the males (43.41%). The aspect of attitude is equally positive among respondents, but a consistent disturbing “presumptive treatment attitude” was still observed amongst a large number (176) of the respondents. This study also revealed that the perception of the respondents towards malaria testing was positive. Also from the findings of this study, the factors that interfered with the respondent’s participation of malaria testing were known. The researcher recommends a comprehensive health education on malaria pre-testing for both the health workers and patients, and malaria pre-test should be made affordable and available even at the rural areas.