Abstract:
Two main opposing views about compliance in medical health are:
firstly it is not possible to ever have the entire clients to comply completely
with regimens requirements, and secondly, through education or some other
means it is possible to have clients comply. The possibility of clients
complying with regimens however increases with strong partnership between
clients and health care professionals. This study assessed the factors leading to
the low patronage of SP-based IPT of malaria by pregnant women in the
Twifo Praso Health District.
Data were collected from 135 women who patronised SP-based IPT of
malaria in pregnancy in the Twifo Praso Health District. In addition, five
health workers were interviewed. The Spearman's Correlation technique was
used to find the association between household income and the number of
antenatal care (ANC) visits.
Eighty-three percent of the clients knew they were susceptible to
malaria, and its devastating effects and of the availability of SP-based IPT, yet
only a few (26 percent) took the recommended three doses. Some of the
women however were not provided with detailed information on the drug, and
50 percent visited ANC late due to inadequate funds.
The Ghana Malaria Control Programme needs to involve all
stakeholders in decision-making. Health workers should be given intensive
training on the administration of the drug whilst both individuals and
communities should be sensitized on malaria and its related issues.
