dc.description.abstract | Literature on health and diseases indicate that people perceive diseases variously. People
develop their own views and beliefs about the causes, symptoms, modes of transmission
and therapy choices, which then influence their health seeking behaviour. The main
objective of this study was to explore health seeking behaviour in relation to malaria
among the fishermen on Rusinga Island on Lake Victoria Kenya. This study which
focused on the fishermen on Rusinga Island on Lake Victoria Kenya sought to establish
the behavioural practices that are thought to predispose fishermen to malaria, the social
cultural factors influencing their choices of therapy and the factors that hinder malaria
prevention on this fisher folk.
Quantitative data were obtained using a questionnaire from a sample of 600 randomly
selected fishermen. Focus group discussion guide and key informants guide were used to
collected supplementary qualitative data. Data collected was analyzed using statistical
package for social scientists (SPSS) version 20. The key finding of the study was that:
94% of fishermen on Rusinga Island were aware that malaria was caused by mosquitoes
but despite this, there is still a lot of ignorance and misconceptions about its causes and
methods of prevention. These misconceptions have adversely influenced their healthseeking
behaviour which led to delayed action and wrong therapy choices. Apart from
misconceptions of the disease, other factors that hinder proper management of malaria
include; lack of funds to buy malaria drugs, inaccessibility to treated mosquito bed nets,
misuse of bed nets, poor infrastructure, lack of drug adherence, lack of knowledge and
ignorance impacted negatively on malaria control.
Despite this, over 73% of fishermen on Rusinga Island were aware of malaria and its
consequences. Main sources of information on malaria were media (47%), friends (38%)
and relatives (15%). It was however, not possible to establish the quality of information
the respondent had on malaria. In order to manage and control malaria on Rusinga Island,
this study gives programmatic recommendation that; the government (Kenya) encourages
more interdisciplinary collaboration between socio-behavioural scientists, education
specialists and entomologists to design evidence-based and culturally sensitive
interventions that can help in management and control of malaria. This study also gives a
policy recommendation that; the government needs to initiates community-based malaria
control programmes that will encourage and enable community engagement in
participatory learning and involvement in programme implementation and the
government needs to supply and distribute free mosquito repellant jelly alongside bed
nets to households in malaria endemic areas (such as Rusinga Island) since it can easily
be applied by fishermen even when they are away from home at dusk and dawn. These
measures will ensure that malaria is both managed and controlled among the fisher folk. | en_US |