Zambia Demographic and Health Survey 2001-2002 - Measure DHS

Table 10.3 Use of mosquito nets by womenPercentage of all women and pregnant women age 15-49 who slept under a mosquito net (treatedor untreated) and who slept under an insecticide-treated net (ITN) the previous night, by backgroundcharacteristics, Zambia 2001-2002BackgroundcharacteristicPercentagewho sleptunder a netlast nightAll womenPercentagewho sleptunder an Number ofITN last night womenPercentagewho sleptunder a netlast nightPregnant womenPercentagewho sleptunder anITN lastnightNumberofpregnantwomenResidenceUrban 20.3 7.7 3,073 23.5 9.9 229Rural 16.0 7.5 4,585 14.9 7.1 553ProvinceCentral 10.7 3.0 562 6.5 3.7 68Copperbelt 17.7 6.6 1,544 22.4 8.2 140Eastern 23.0 15.5 926 18.4 11.2 102Luapula 25.1 13.3 622 29.6 18.5 80Lusaka 16.0 4.2 1,132 12.9 2.9 88Northern 17.3 8.0 1,040 14.4 6.1 117North-Western 23.7 10.2 354 (27.2) (12.0) 37Southern 9.8 2.5 814 5.6 1.4 83Western 19.9 6.9 663 22.7 9.1 67EducationNo education 10.8 4.3 925 9.2 3.8 102Primary 14.1 6.1 4,439 13.5 6.7 498Secondary 25.7 10.5 2,061 30.2 9.9 170Higher 44.1 22.8 234 * * 11Total 17.7 7.6 7,658 17.4 7.9 782Note: Figures in parentheses are based on 25-49 unweighted cases. An asterisk indicatesthat a figure is based on fewer than 25 unweighted cases and has been suppressed.Use of insecticide-treated nets—especially among pregnant women—is very important in malariaprevention. Results from the 2001-2002 ZDHS show that only 4 percent of pregnant women with noeducation slept under an ITN, compared with 30 percent of pregnant women with secondary education.10.2 MALARIA DIAGNOSIS, CASE MANAGEMENT AND TREATMENTZambia is among the countries in Africa with the highest malaria-related maternal mortality. Incontrolling malaria in Zambia, one of the strategies that the MoH/National Malaria Control Centre hasadopted through the Anti-malarial Drug Policy is the presumptive treatment of fever with sulphapyrimethamine(SP), known as Fansidar (as the first-line drug replacing chloroquine), and the promotion ofefforts to increase its availability at the community level. Nonetheless, during the period that the fieldworkfor the 2001-2002 ZDHS was conducted, chloroquine was the national drug of choice. The data on antimalarialdrugs from the 2001-2002 ZDHS depend on accurate reporting of types of drugs taken. It is likelythat some women were not sure of the type of drug they took during pregnancy or gave to their children.10.2.1 Malaria Prophylaxis during PregnancyTable 10.4 shows the percentage of women with a birth in the five years preceding the survey whotook any drug for prevention of malaria during their pregnancy. Thirty-six percent of women received someanti-malarial drugs during their last pregnancy. The most frequently used drug for malaria is chloroquine (33percent), with less than 1 percent of the women reporting use of Fansidar. More than 80 percent of thepregnant women who took anti-malarial medication received the drugs during an antenatal visit.Malaria │ 157