Malaria Related Knowledge, Practice And Behavior Of People In South Halmahera, Indonesia

Eastern parts of Indonesia are well known as malaria high incidence areas. This study aimed to describe malaria-related knowledge, practices and behavior in high endemic areas of malaria in South Halmahera district. This descriptive study used probability proportional to measure method for cluster selection in study areas i.e., West Gane (WG) and East Gane (EG) sub-districts. Each area, there were 15 clusters, 405 households (HH), and maximum 2025 respondents (5 from each HH) involved in the study. Knowledge, practice, and behavior of people related to malaria were assessed using a standardized questionnaire. Field workers were trained and by using Personal Digital Assistance entered answers from respondent directly. Results revealed that totally there were 4050 respondents ranged from below five until above 50 years old. From those above 5 yr old who knew about malaria (86.7%), only 45.5% knew that malaria was caused by mosquito and 54.5% knew that mosquito bite inside and outside of the house. Knowledge on symptoms and treatments were relatively low particularly in EG compared to WG (33.7% vs. 74.0% and 19.2% vs. 58.5%, respectively for symptoms and treatment). In addition, most of those who knew malaria said that they agreed malaria is a dangerous disease and they could be infected but only 40.5% knew how to treat. Out of 810 HH, only 49.0% used bed net but only 63.5% consistently used the bed net every night. In addition, mosquito coil was used more in WG than in EG (43.4% vs. 1.9%).\ud Conclusion: We conclude that knowledge, practice, and behavior about malaria were very low especially in EG. Health education should be prioritized as indispensable activity in malaria controlling program