Abstract:

The objective of this study was to ascertain the pattern and reliability of self-diagnosis and self-medication with antimalarial drugs. The sample size was 470 comprising 264 men and 206 women. There is a significant difference between the screening results for men and for women (P=0.01186). 71.49% of participants purchasing antimalarial drugs for self-medication in the study area had no parasite antigen in their blood stream. Self-medication practices with antimalarial drugs was found to be more prevalent in the age group 31-40, which accounted for 171 (36.36 %) of participants. Individuals >60 years of age were the least involved in the practice of self-medication practice with antimalarial drugs. Age was found to be significantly associated with self-medication practices with antimalarial drugs (P=0.028156). More single individuals were engaged in the practice of self-medication with anti-malarial drugs 235(50%) as compared to married participants 206(43.83%). The results show that individuals with formal education were the most engaged in self -medication practices with anti-malarial drug as tertiary educated participants accounted for 257(54.68%) as compared with individuals with no formal education (53 or 11.28%). The level of accuracy of self–diagnosis for malaria was higher in women 30.58% as compared to men (21.97%). The precision of self-diagnosis was also highest among participants aged > 60(41.82%) while the lowest was level of accuracy was recorded among participants aged 18-30(15.14%). Based on the level of education, the accuracy of malaria diagnosis was higher in tertiary educated participants (29.18%) and lowest among participants with no formal education (15.09%).

Keywords: Antimalaria, Self-Medication, Malaria, Prevalence, Self-Diagnosis.

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