INFLUENCE OF DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF REGISTERED ANTENATAL CARE PREGNANT WOMEN ON THEIR PRACTICE OF MALARIA PREVENTION STRATEGIES IN NORTH-EAST ZONE, NIGERIA

This study assessed the influence of demographic characteristics of registered antenatal care [ANC] pregnant women on their practice of malaria prevention strategies in north-east zone, Nigeria. Using ex-post facto research design. Multistage sampling technique consisting of simple random, stratified, proportionate and systematic sampling techniques were used to draw a sample from a population of 503,661 antenatal care registered pregnant women from six (6) states in North-east zone, Nigeria. Thus, a total number of 1,200 pregnant women attending ANC formed the respondents. The instrument for data collection was a researcher-developed validated close-ended questionnaire. The instrument was tested using Cronbach Alpha and a reliability index of 0.80 was obtained from the pilot study result. The data collected was analysed using International Business Machine [IBM] Statistical Package of Social Science [SPSS] version 25.0. The descriptive statistics of mean scores and standard deviations were used to answer the research question. Inferential statistics of regression analysis was used to test formulated null hypothesis. The finding of the study revealed that; two demographic characteristics: marital status and occupation with the p-values of 0.009 and 0.000 respectively influenced significantly the practices of the pregnant women of malaria prevention strategies. The conclusion drawn was that the registered ANC pregnant women’s marital status and occupation influenced their practices of malaria prevention strategies positively while their age, education and income did not. It was recommended that, public enlightenment campaigns concerning malaria prevention strategies should be intensified to increase the awareness and good practice of malaria prevention among the ANC and non-ANC registered pregnant women across all their demographic characteristics.