International Journal of Biomedical Materials Research 2016; 4(3): 49-57 http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/ijbmr doi: 10.11648/j.ijbmr.20160403.17 ISSN: 2330-7560 (Print); ISSN: 2330-7579 (Online) Adherence to Malaria Preventive Measures and Associated Factors in Badewacho District, Southern Ethiopia Koyamo Darfiro 1 , Berhanu Erko 2 , Abebe Animut 2 , Adugna Endale 3, * 1 West Badewacho Woreda Health Office, Hadiya Zone, Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region, Ethiopia 2 Aklilu Lemma Institute of Pathobiology, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 3 School of Medicine, Dire-Dawa University, Dire-Dawa, Ethiopia Email address: adugnaendale73@gmail.com (A. Endale) * Corresponding author To cite this article: Koyamo Darfiro, Berhanu Erko, Abebe Animut, Adugna Endale. Adherence to Malaria Preventive Measures and Associated Factors in Badewacho District, Southern Ethiopia. International Journal of Biomedical Materials Research. Vol. 4, No. 3, 2016, pp. 49-57. doi: 10.11648/j.ijbmr.20160403.17 Received: September 28, 2016; Accepted: November 11, 2016; Published: January 3, 2017 Abstract: Malaria remains a major public health problem in Ethiopia threatening the lives of 68% of the population. At present, long lasting insecticidal nets and indoor residual spraying are the major malaria prevention and control methods in the country.This study was undertaken to assess adherence to currently available malaria preventive methods its associated factors inBadewacho District, Southern Ethiopia.A community based cross-sectional study was conducted between February and March, 2013. Systematic random sampling method was used to collect data on preventive measures from 138 households through semi-structured questionnaires administered to interviewees during home to home visit. The data was computed using a statistical soft ware SPSS version 16.0. A P-value <0.05 and 95% CI excluding 1 were considered statistically significant.The coverage and the proportion of households with one or more of their members utilizing mosquito nets in the district were 73.2% and 44.2% respectively. Net utilization of households with under-five year children was 32.1%. Dirtiness of the nets, lack of appropriate area for hanging, wearing out, and adherence to other preventive measures were mentioned as reasons for not using the nets. Only 63(45.7%) of the respondents knew that mosquitoes transmit malaria and most households sought treatment in public health facilities.Utilization of mosquito net was significantly associated with previous treatment for malaria in government health institutions and knowledge about malaria prevention methods.Coverage and utilization of the major malaria preventive measures was low in theBadewacho District, Southern Ethiopia. This indicates the necessity of health education to increase the community awareness in utilization of available malaria preventive measures to reduce the disease burden. Keywords: Adherence, Malaria, Preventive Measures, Badewacho District, Ethiopia 1. Introduction Malaria is an infectious disease caused by protozoan parasites belonging to the genus Plasmodium (Rajahram et al., 2012). The disease is mainly transmitted by the bite of female Anopheles mosquitoes (An. mosquitoes) (Antonio- Nkondjio et al., 2012; Peterson, 2009). There might also be transmission from infected mother to her fetus through placenta (Ouedraogo et al., 2012), during sharing the same hypodermic needle (Chau et al., 2002), and rarely by blood transfusion (Ali et al., 2004). The disease threatens the lives of more than 50% of the world’s population in over 100 countries and causes serious economic and person-day loses (Modrek et al., 2012; WHO, 2008). It is prevalent in tropical and subtropical regions of sub-Saharan Africa, Central and South America and Asia (Stratton et al., 2008; WHO, 2010).Each year, it causes 225 to 244 million clinical cases and kills up to 1.2 million people worldwide (Murray et al., 2012; WHO, 2010). It takes the greatest toll in young children (Loha and Lindtjørn, 2012b),