Barriers to Prompt and Effective Malaria Treatment among Malaria Infected Patients in Palaw Township, Tanintharyi Region,Myanmar : Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

Barriers to Prompt and Effective Malaria Treatment among Malaria Infected Patients in Palaw Township, Tanintharyi Region, Myanmar : Cross Sectional Study Background: In Greater Mekong Sub regions, Myanmar is the highest malaria burden country. At the Myanmar–Thailand border, Artemisinin resistance in Plasmodium falciparum has been present for several years . Prompt and effective malaria treatment is the corner stone to reduce malaria morbidity , mortality and drug resistance malaria. Although National Malaria Control Program leads to fill the gaps for prompt and effective treatment of malaria, gaps are still present related to sociodemographic characteristics and knowledge of malaria, treatment seeking behaviors, health system factors such as accessibility, availability, affordability of services and accountability of health providers. There were no previous studies to assess these barriers in this area. The objective of the research is to assess barriers (sociodemographic characteristics, knowledge of malaria, behaviors related to treatment seeking and health system factors) regarding prompt and effective malaria treatment among malaria infected patients in Palaw Township, Tanintharyi Region, Myanmar. Method: The study design is descriptive cross sectional study. The study population were 18 to 65 years old malaria infected patients from January 2018 to March 2018 in 17 high risk malaria villages of Palaw Township. Sample size is 204 malaria infected patients and selected randomly from each village. Face to face interview was done by using structured questionnaires. Bivariate analysis and binary logistic regression were used to assess association, strength of association and determine the model of determinants. Results: The respondents of 85.8% did not get prompt and effective malaria treatment within 24 hours due to barriers. There were statistically significant with sociodemographic characteristics (marital status, ethnicity, education status and monthly family income) (p value <0.05), good knowledge of malaria (p value < 0.001, AOR= 65.3, 95% CI), good behaviors related to treatment seeking (p value = 0.021, AOR = 3.889, 95% CI) , health system factors (p value<0.05) and prompt and effective malaria treatment at 95% Confidence interval. Conclusion: The findings suggested that prompt and effective malaria treatment was influenced by sociodemographic characteristics, knowledge of malaria, behaviors related to treatment seeking and health system factors. Enhancing the knowledge and promotion of good behaviors about malaria should be done through health education sessions and health system factors due to health providers should be managed by Local Health Authority.