Intermittent prevention for malaria in Abuja, Nigeria

Malaria is a parasitic disease of humans especially in the sub-Saharan Africa. Pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to malaria as pregnancy reduces a woman's immunity, making them more susceptible to infection and increasing the risk of illness, and causing severe anaemia and death. Some of the problems affecting prevention of malaria in pregnancy include low level of education leading to poor compliance to medication, poor antenatal care attendance and non-appreciation of the need to take drugs while they are physically fit. To tackle this enormous burden, lntermittent preventive treatment using Sulfadoxine Pyrimethamine also referred to as Fansidar is given to pregnant women during antenatal care. Obtaining information about the knowledge, use and practice of IPT in the population will help to strengthen malaria control strategies in the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria and the country as a whole. It is also expected that findings from this study would provide valuable information to guide educational material development for the IPT programme.