The provision of malaria health education by nurses/midwives to HIV infected pregnant women during antenatal clinic visits at lower Manya Krobo district of Ghana
Introduction: Malaria infection during pregnancy is a significant public health problem, with substantial risks for the mother, foetus, or neonate. HIV infection and malaria represent a double burden for pregnant women. The prevention of malaria among HIV infected pregnant women through health education by nurses/midwives during antenatal clinic visits presents a strategic opportunity to reduce and possibly eliminate malaria among these vulnerable individuals. Aim: To investigate the malaria health education nurses/midwives provide to HIV infected pregnant women during antenatal clinic visits at selected hospitals in the Lower Manya Krobo District of Ghana. Methods: A convergent parallel mixed method within an Interpretivist’s methodological design was used to concurrently collect qualitative and quantitative data separately. Quantitative data were collected from 110 HIV infected pregnant women visiting the antenatal clinics through administered questionnaires and analysed with SPSS, IBM version 27. The qualitative data were obtained from three nurses/midwives through interviews and analysed in Nvivo 12. Descriptive statistics, Pearson’s chi-square test and Pearson’s correlation were used for quantitative analysis. A narrative weaving approach was used to integrate the two data. Results: The study indicated that the respondents had a high knowledge of malaria. The primary malaria preventive practices include a clean environment, insecticide-treated mosquito net, spray/coils and repellent use. The content of malaria education provided by nurses/midwives included what malaria is, the cause of malaria, the effect of malaria on pregnancy, their susceptibility to and consequences of malaria in pregnancy, and available preventive strategies. The factors affecting the effective delivery of malaria health education were: staff shortage, long waiting time, and noncompliance. An integrated Malaria Health Educational Intervention Framework emerged from the study. Conclusion: The appropriate malaria health education integration in routine antenatal clinic visits and delivery by nurses/midwives represents a great strategy to prevent malaria among vulnerable HIV infected pregnant women.
Malaria infection, Public health, HIV infection and malaria, Pregnant women
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