Determinants of optimal uptake of intermittent preventive treatment of malaria during pregnancy in Uganda

Abstract

Malaria in pregnancy is a major problem in sub-Saharan Africa with an estimated 55 million pregnancies occurring annually in danger of a possible adverse event due to malaria. World Health Organization (WHO) recommends taking at least 3 or more doses of Intermittent Preventive Treatment of malaria during pregnancy (IPTp) with Sulphadoxine-Pyremethamine (SP) as optimal since it would help in preventing malaria and its associated adverse outcomes. Uptake of optimal doses of IPTp remains low in Uganda and there is limited data on what determines its uptake and thus this study aimed at establishing the determinants of uptake of optimal doses of IPTp in Uganda. This study used secondary data from the Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS) 2016. Weighed data on 7,653 women who had given birth within 3 years preceding the survey and attended antenatal care were analyzed. Multinomial logistic regression was conducted to determine factors associated with uptake of optimal doses of IPTp. Overall, results show that 17% of women received optimal doses of IPTp during pregnancy, 62% received 1-2 doses while 21% received none. The risk of a woman taking optimal doses of IPTp over not taking any dose was higher for women aged 20 – 24 years compared to women aged 15 – 19 years, higher for women with secondary and higher levels of education compared to those who did not have any level of education. Results also reveal that the risk of a woman taking optimal doses of IPTp over not taking any dose was lower (RRR=0.34, CI: 0.12-1.00) for women aged 45 – 49 years compared to those aged 15 – 19 years. The study concludes by recommending that parents, the government of Uganda and other private stakeholders should strategize ways of keeping children in school especially the girl child so that they are able to seek, understand, interpret and use information such as one on IPTp uptake for the good of their pregnancy and health of the babies.