Ownership of Bed Nets and Use by Children below 5 Years in Sagamu Local Government Area of Ogun State, Nigeria

Aim: To document the level of ITNs ownership and utilization for children within the Sagamu Local Government Area in Ogun State three years after the commencement of major distribution exercise of this simple tool.
Study Design: A descriptive cross -sectional community based study.
Place and Duration of Study: Sagamu Local Government area in Nigeria. May 2009.
Methodology: Study involved one hundred and thirty one (131) children within the Local Government with fever or a 2 day history of fever prior to the day of the meeting following a 3 day community campaign. They were enrolled into the study using a systematic random sampling method. Pretested semi-structured questionnaire was administered by research assistants/investigators to obtain data on ownership of ITNs by the caregiver and their utilization by the index child. Factors that may affect ownership and utilization were also documented.
Frequency tables were generated for all the categorical variables and association between them tested using the chi-square test and logistic regression. Level of significance was set at p value <0.05.
Result: The mean age of the study population was 47.3±50.6 months for the children and 28.8±5.9 years for the mothers. Among the 128 respondents, ITNs ownership was 9.2%, utilization was 4.6%.
House-types and mothers’ occupation were positive predictors of use (r=0.97). There was a strong positive correlation between mother’s educational level and ownership (r=0.96). Ownership was however limited by a combination of lack of awareness and knowledge of access point as well as cost.
Conclusion: While improving the awareness of the populace through radio jingles and social marketing as well as use of private health facilities as access points will aid in better ownership of ITNs, subsidizing the cost of ITNs rather than making it out rightly free may ensure better utilization.