Table 1 Baseline perceptions on malaria and repellents
| Â | Repellent n (%) | Placebo n (%) | Totals n (%) | P- value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
What is malaria | Â | Â | Â | Â |
Disease | 285 (93.44%) | 270 (95.07%) | 555 (94.23%) | 0.397 |
Don’t know | 20 (6.56%) | 14 (4.93%) | 34 (5.77%) |  |
Causes of malaria | Â | Â | Â | Â |
Mosquitoes | 302 (99.01%) | 280 (98.59%) | 582 (98.81%) | 0.634 |
Other | 3 (0.99%) | 4 (1.41%) | 7 (1.19%) | Â |
Knowledge of malaria prevention methods | Â | Â | Â | 0.664 |
Bed nets | 286 (94.38%) | 271 (95.42%) | 557 (94.89%) | Â |
Environmental management | 7 (2.31%) | 3 (1.05%) | 10 (1.70%) | Â |
Going to hospitals | 4 (1.32%) | 2 (0.70%) | 6 (1.02%) | Â |
Using repellents | 1 (0.33%) | 1 (0.35%) | 2 (0.34%) | Â |
Don’t know | 5 (1.65%) | 7 (2.46%) | 12 (2.04%) |  |
Knowledge of mosquito breeding site | Â | Â | Â | 0.998 |
Water puddle | 291 (95.40%) | 270 (95.40%) | 561 (95.41%) | Â |
Other | 14 (4.60%) | 13 (4.60%) | 27 (4.59%) | Â |
Protection methods used | Â | Â | Â | Â |
Bed nets | 294 (95.14%) | 277 (96.85%) | 571 (95.97%) | 0.600 |
Mosquito coils | 3 (0.97%) | 3 (1.04%) | 6 (1.01%) | Â |
Environmental management | 7 (2.26%) | 5 (1.74%) | 12 (2.02%) | Â |
Covering oneself | 4 (1.29%) | 1 (0.34%) | 6 (0.84%) | Â |
Using repellents | 1 (0.32%) | - | 1 (0.17%) | Â |
Reasons for using protection methods | Â | Â | Â | Â |
Effective | 174 (56.31%) | 154 (54.03%) | 328 (55.22%) | 0.008 |
Readily available | 34 (11.00%) | 22 (7.71%) | 56 (9.34%) | Â |
Cheap | 23 (7.44%) | 8 (2.80%) | 31 (5.22%) | Â |
Easy to use | 76 (24.59%) | 100 (35.08%) | 176 (29.63%) | Â |
Other | 2 (0.64%) | 1 (0.35%) | 3 (0.51%) | Â |
Reasons for not using repellents | Â | Â | Â | Â |
Don’t understand use | 139 (45.27%) | 118 (41.40%) | 257 (43.41%) | 0.057 |
Not aware of repellents | 38 (12.37%) | 28 (9.82%) | 66 (11.15%) | Â |
Not available | 109 (35.50%) | 115 (40.35%) | 224 (37.84%) | Â |
Expensive | 16 (5.21%) | 24 (8.42%) | 40 (6.76%) | Â |
Other | 5 (1.62%) | - | 5 (0.84%) | Â |
Willingness to use repellents | Â | Â | Â | Â |
Yes | 309 (99.67%) | 286 (100%) | 595 (99.83%) | 0.336 |
No | 1 (0.32%) | - | 1 (0.17%) | Â |