American Journal of Public Health Research, 2016, Vol. 4, No. 6, 222-229 Available online at http://pubs.sciepub.com/ajphr/4/6/5 ©Science and Education Publishing DOI:10.12691/ajphr-4-6-5 Ownership and Use of Insecticide Treated Nets in Selected Rural Communities of Oyo State, Nigeria: Implication for Policy Action Ajibola Idowu 1,* , Gbenga Omotade Popoola 2 , Babatunde Akintunde 3 , Samuel Aaanu Olowookere 4 , Samson Ayo Deji 5 1 Departmnet of Community Medicine, Bowen University Teaching Hospital, Nigeria 2 College of Health Sciences, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria 3 Department of Community Medicine, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria 4 Department of Community Health, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife 5 Department of Epidemiology and Community Health, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine, Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria *Corresponding author: idajibola@yahoo.com Abstract Introduction: Insecticide Treated Net (ITN) coverage and use remain low in Sub-Sahara Africa. The study assessed factors associated with ITN use in the rural settings of Nigeria. Methodology: Descriptive epidemiological design was employed and multi-stage sampling technique used to select 381 consenting participants in four rural communities of Oyo State, Nigeria. Interviewer-administered, semi-structured questionnaire was used for data collection and analyses done using SPSS; bi-variate analyses were done using chi-square test and binary-logistic regression was used to identify factors that were significantly associated with ITN use. Level of statistical significance was set at p<0.05. Result: The mean age of the respondents was 30±8 years. While 90.1% of the participants possessed ITNs, only 69.3% of them slept under the nets a night before the survey. Respondents who were less than 19 years of age had significantly lesser odds of ITN use compared to older women ((OR; 0.87, CI; 0.82-0.93). Also, women with no formal education had significantly lesser odds of ITN use compared to those with tertiary education (OR; 0.14, CI; 0.02-0.73). Respondents whose households’ monthly income was more than $64 had significantly higher odds of ITN use compared to households earning less (OR; 6.94, CI; 2.76-17.42). Pregnant women were ten times more likely to use ITN compared to non-pregnant participants (OR; 9.84, CI; 1.03-93.88). Conclusion: There is urgent need for more awareness creation on benefits of ITN use particularly among teenage mothers in Nigeria. Keywords: insecticide treated nets, ITN ownership and use, malaria, prevention Cite This Article: Ajibola Idowu, Gbenga Omotade Popoola, Babatunde Akintunde, Samuel Aaanu Olowookere, and Samson Ayo Deji, “Ownership and Use of Insecticide Treated Nets in Selected Rural Communities of Oyo State, Nigeria: Implication for Policy Action.” American Journal of Public Health Research, vol. 4, no. 6 (2016): 222-229. doi: 10.12691/ajphr-4-6-5. 1. Introduction Malaria has remained a major public health problem particularly in the tropical countries. This is in spite of various interventional programmes designed to reduce its burden world-wide. For instance, the 2011 World Malaria Report of the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that 216 million malaria cases and 655,000 deaths were recorded for 2010 alone. Not less than 91% of these deaths occurred in Africa; pregnant women and under-five-children accounted for the largest proportion of the deaths [1]. According to report from Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Nigeria has more reported cases and deaths from malaria than any other countries of the world [2]. Studies have also demonstrated that about 50% of Nigerians suffer from at least one episode of malaria each year and that malaria accounts for more than 45% of out-patient visits in the country [3]. Globally, efforts had been made towards reducing malaria burden; policies and programmes have been developed to reduce the scourge of the disease. An example of such pragmatic efforts is the establishment of the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) programme by the WHO and other implementing partners in 1998. The programme aimed at reducing malaria burden by 50% by the year 2010 [4]. Governments of African nations had equally demonstrated their willingness to reduce malaria burden in the continent in line with the vision of RBM. Thus on April 25 th , 2000, all African heads of states gathered in Abuja, Nigeria to make commitments to malaria reduction. Among many resolutions, all member states were to ensure that at least 60% of vulnerable groups which includes pregnant women and under-five-children sleep under Insecticide treated nets (ITNs) by year 2005 [5]; this target was raised to 80% in 2010.