Intermittent Preventive Treatment Of Malaria In Pregnancy: Case Study

Malaria parasite in pregnancy causes serious problems like jeopardising the health of pregnant women, compromising the health of the foetus and increasing the likelihood of adverse pregnancy outcomes such as stillbirth, spontaneous abortion and low birth weight (NDHS, 2013). Intermittent Preventive Treatment of Malaria in Pregnancy (IPTp) is one of the strategies where pregnant women in malaria – endemic countries receive complete doses of Sulfadoxine – Pyrimethamine (SP), whether or not have symptom of malaria. As a protective measure, in 2005, the Federal Government of Nigeria has approved the prevention of malaria in pregnancy intervention as a component of focused antenatal care in order to reduce the burden of malaria in the country (FMoH, 2014). The key interventions available in the public health facilities at the ANC for the prevention of malaria in pregnancy include administration of Sulfadoxine – Pyrimethamine for intermittent preventive treatment through directly observed therapy, distribution of long
According to SMOH, 2015, the state has a projected population of 4,328,270 and based on this figure, the state expected 216,414 of pregnant women. These numbers of pregnant women are expected to at least receive two doses of SP during ANC visits to health facilities in the state. But the pregnant women who received IPT at least one dose were 9.7% and those who received 2 doses were 6.6% respectively (NDHS, 2013). Therefore, based on the above information, if we failed to initiate the possible ways of tackling this problem, the main objective of reducing maternal, infant and neonatal mortality in the state may likely not be significantly achieved. So, for this purpose, the researcher decided to carry out an investigation on the issue for possible