Abstract:
Human malaria is a common and life-threatening disease in many tropical and sub tropical
areas. Consequently, malaria epidemics are serious public health emergencies. ITNs
(Insecticide Treated bed Nets) are the most powerful malaria control tool. The utilization of
ITNs is still unacceptably low among rural people. Thus, the objectives of the present study
were to assess the prevalence of malaria, to determine the predominant Plasmodium species
among the study participants and to assess peoples’ knowledge about utilization of ITNs
among rural people in Habru Kebeles community. A across sectional survey study was
conducted. A systemic random sampling method was used to select 403 study participants for
questionnaire and parasitological blood examination. The study was conducted during
October to December 2016 in Habru Kebeles. Clinical records of malaria were used to
analyse the trends of malaria in the last five years (2011-2015). Diagnosis of malaria infection
was done using microscopic examination of thick and thin Giemsa stained blood smears for
the presence of malaria parasite and plasmodium species identification. Additionally,
structured and pretested questionnaires were used to assess the socio demographic
characteristics, respondents’ knowledge about ITNs utilization and knowledge about malaria
in the study area. The results showed that 76.7% of the study participants had ITNs; the
knowledge about utilization of ITN was not high, where 51.6% of the study participants scored greater than 50% of the assessment questions; and the study participants knowledge about
sign and symptoms of malaria were high. Microscopic examinations of blood samples showed
that, the prevalence of malaria parasite was 16(4.0%) in study area and P. vivax and P.
falciparum were the dominant malaria parasites accounting for 2.5% and 1.5% respectively,
in the study population. The prevalence of malaria is more in males than in females. Data
obtained from the health centre records about malaria outpatients in study area showed that
malaria infections were frequently occurring almost throughout the year and every month.
