Tribal preventive practices toward malaria in East Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh

ABSTRACT Introduction: Malaria is one of the world’s important parasitic diseases. Malaria deaths reached 445,000 in 2016, a similar number (446,000) to 2015. In 2017, India contributed to 633,481 malaria cases and 103 deaths due to malaria. In Andhra Pradesh, among five endemic districts, East Godavari is one. We made an attempt to report tribal preventive practices toward malaria in this district. Materials and Methods: Using a multistage random method, a total of 1136 participants were interviewed from four tribal P.H.C areas of East Godavari district. Semistructured questionnaires, which consist of questions on preventive practices of malaria, were used as a tool to interview them. Data were entered into Excel sheets and analyzed by using SPSS 17. Results: 93.04% ensure treatment for fever, 21.47% boil water to prevent the cause of malaria. 17.25% maintain a clean environment, 7.74% use nets to prevent disease transmission, 28.87% always approach health workers for malaria, 90.31% contact MPW-M for smear collection for fever, 42.07% never apply minor engineering measures, 22.35% clear bushes, 15.99% remove broken pots, and 39.26% cover the water containers with lids to prevent mosquito breeding. Prior to my visit, 67.34% stayed for a night in the forest, and 72.53% use a net while sleeping. All of them had IRS to their houses only for external walls and cattle sheds. Conclusion: To come to a conclusion, our tribal participants have poor practices toward malaria disease prevention. Use of nets and IRS is to be improved.